Additons To A Misunderstood Fate
by ange7snow
Summary: As the X-men return to their lives of adventures, missions, & still grieving the death of Jean, the need for a babysitter becomes immediate. Main characters include: Storm, Wolverine, Cyclops, Rogue, Iceman, Colossus, Prof., Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, & Psy
1. Prologue

I have included a wide range of characters. Of course we all know that the characters in the X-Men movies were from the comics, however, the movies either briefly mentioned some of the characters, you only saw their power, or the movie didn't introduce them at all. I have included all of the movie characters, added some of the other original characters, and I have created a few of my own- and I mean FEW. My chapters may be a bit short; I don't want the chapters to be too long to read. I couldn't figure out if it was more annoying to read a few long chapters, or a lot of short ones. So I simply stuck with the format I had already created.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am the Queen of typos and spelling errors. I have tried to correct all of these as best as I can- so please excuse me if I have missed something. (And if you've read my POTC fanfic, lol, I'm making a bigger effort to edit my chapters.) PLEASE, PLEASE, R& R! I'd like to hear all comments, but please keep critical comments to "constructive" criticism. I am open to ideas and improvement suggestions, but please be nice about it. Thank you so much and enjoy!

**DISCLAIMER**- duh, I don't own X-Men or the characters, EXCEPT Prophet is of my own creation.

…. Chapter One ….

"Professor, is everything all right?"

"Yes, I think it will be."

A few months had slipped by since their encounters at Alkali Lake and since the sacrificing death of Jean. The X-men had returned to their everyday, normal lives, as best they could. Cyclops grieved quietly and kept to himself for several weeks. He carefully took off his engagement ring and laid it gently on the end table on his side of the bed. Wolverine grieved quietly, relinquishing Jean to Cyclops, though he couldn't stop his feelings for her. Her death ate him from the inside out. It tangled his motions and his mind, not knowing how to handle his pain and not allowing himself to cry. He became irritable and short; distanced himself from the others from time to time. Storm was hit hard, but she was forced to be strong for the children and herself. Jean and Storm had been the only women X-Men, but more importantly, they had become close friends over the past few years, teaching and going on missions. Storm was the first to know about Jean and Cyclops' engagement. Nightcrawler prayed for Jean and the others, which was the most he really could do. He tried to give them comforting words about heaven and how much she loved them, but the words seemed too naive and detached. After all, Nightcrawler barely met Jean before she died; he only knew her for a few days.

As the time rolled on, the missions increased. Nightcrawler was the new candidate for babysitting, though the Professor greatly wished to have him with them on their missions. Nightcrawler was the best with the children: playing with them, telling them stories, and always there to comfort them. He was a kind mystery that the children were in awe over. The Professor might have allowed Rogue, Iceman, and Colossus to baby sit if they had been a bit older, and more mature.

Some good news finally found its way to their front doorstep and the Professor called a meeting one Monday afternoon. The X-Men were curious to the news as they filed into the Professor's office.

"Is there something wrong professor?"

"No, Storm. Everything is fine. In fact, the reason I have called you all to this meeting is to announce some good news. Nightcrawler has done a great job babysitting the children, but all this time I've been trying to figure out a way that we could bring him along with us. That would mean finding another babysitter." He paused for a deep breathe and continued. "An old friend of mine has agreed to come on to baby sit, as well as teach art."

"Who is it?"

"Her name is Angelina. She's a fine young lady with a passion for art and children. I think you all will get along quite nicely."

"You're telling me that this meeting was simply to announce an art teacher?" Wolverine meant no disrespect. He was implying that there was more than the Professor had revealed to them so far.

"No, that's not quite all of it, though it does have to do with Angelina. When she arrives she will be the only non-mutant present at the school."

Wolverine turned his back towards the rest and starred out of the window, trying to hide his anxiety and ill feelings towards all of this. Cyclops turned his vision to his shoes. The others as well, seemed a bit uneasy.

"Why does she want to come here! How do we know we can trust her? I mean, it's not everyday that they just sign up to be friends and co-workers of mutants, at least not when they know they're going to be working with mutants; she knows about us, doesn't she?"

"Yes. It was actually one of the reasons she accepted."

Wolverine stared out the window soaking it all in. 'Couldn't she be a spy though? For Magneto, or the government? I just don't like it,' he thought.

"I can assure you that she is not a spy." The Professor laughed a little and grinned. "You all will just have to trust me."

"When ... when will she arrive?"

"Angelina will arrive in two days. I know that you all have been dealing with a lot, but please try to understand and be kind to her. After all, what better way to prove to them that we mean no harm?"

Wolverine left, breathing heavily. Everyone seemed curious, but nervous. Storm's inclination was to simply not trust the non-mutants. Cyclops felt much of the same way, and it was only Nightcrawler who was looking forward to the new comer.

The others stood silent before they followed Wolverine out, one by one.

"Oh, Storm. You might want inform the students right away. The kids will need some time to adjust to the idea. And I've posted a sign up sheet on the refrigerator door for the art class."

Storm nodded and left. The Professor had Rogue clean out Pyro's room- which was across from Wolverine's room and next to Rogue's. The room was at the very end of the hall. It was a bit smaller than the other rooms, but it did have a beautiful view of the front yard.

The children's gossip quickly turned to the new art teacher: what she looked like, her horrible past, what she did in her spare time, who she really was- whether she was a spy or not. But they were gossips whispered under their breathes when the X-Men weren't around. The X-Men approached the subject with a new tension that was hard for the children to identify, but it made the subject all that more mysterious, curious, and secretive. Some began to plan out their pranks, joking about how she wouldn't be able to do anything about them, being powerless and all. Other conversations turned to art projects and complainants about coloring sheets and construction paper crafts, hoping that the class would be better than Kindergarten.

……………………..

Angelina, whose was nick named Ange, had met the professor a few years ago when she had encountered a mutant student at her day care. It was an after school day care for children of all ages- up to 18. Some of the other students had noticed, and gossip had started floating around. She heard about the Professor's school for the gifted and contacted him about the situation, not realizing yet that the Professor's school was specifically for mutants. The Professor told her all about the school, but asked her not to discuss the 'mutant' part with the parents, or anyone else. She agreed. In fact, she was delighted that such children had a place where they could go and be themselves without harassment. Over the course of a few years, she had referred several students to the Professor. Each mutant-student she had found complained about being picked-on. Ange would explain to the families that just at the day care they noticed how "talented" they were and that there was a school where the children could excel without being ridiculed.  
After instances, the day care began to grow suspicious of her. Even more so when a 5th grader blatantly used their powers to get back at an older bully. The whole staff discussed how they should handle it. They wanted to let everyone who attended the day care know what this child was and of all of the possible "dangers" associated. Ange, though reluctant to speak up too much, simply suggested that such information would create panic and harassment; more problems than solutions. The day care decided to let her go as a result, and several comments about being a "mutant sympathizer" went on her permanent record. Thus, the professor offered her a job at his school.


	2. Arrival

The professor asked Ange to come around dinner time, that way her arrival wouldn't create too much of a commotion during the school day, distracting the kids and making them exceptionally hyper. This way would also allow for all of the X-Men members to greet her.

She arrived by taxi. The children heard her pull up, and they pressed their faces up against the windows giggling and whispering. The cab driver gathered her suit cases for her, and she turned to face the school as the taxi drove off. The day light was fading quickly and the sky rumbled; the clouds moved in slowly and threatened rain. She smiled, greatly excited and nervous. Her stomach grumbled from anxiety and hunger and she stepped slowly towards the front porch steps, dragging her luggage behind her.

As she approached the school's front doors, she could smell the aroma of pizza floating through the air. It only made her more hungry; it had been a long day's travel from Washington, D.C.

She paused at the front door, and took a deep breath. She went over what she had thought of to say earlier to introduce herself, though she knew she'd never use those lines. She rang the door bell and waited. 'Finally, a place to fit in,' she thought.

"Professor, I think she's arrived." Rogue teased, only a moment later the door bell rang. With all of the commotion the kids were making, it could have only been her arrival.

"I believe you're right." He smiled back. The professor headed towards the front door, but stopped. "Rogue, could you ask the others to meet us in my office? Oh, and I'd like for you, Iceman, & Colossus to meet her too." Rogue moved quickly to get the X-Men and Iceman and Colossus.

The heavy front door heaved opened and the Professor wheeled into view.

"Hello Professor."

"Hello Angelina. How was your trip?"

"Mmmm, long, tiresome, but not too bad."

"Hungry, I assume?"

She laughed. "Yes, very. And the smell of the pizza is just tickling my stomach! I didn't get to stop and eat like I had hoped. The taxi was late and it took me longer than I thought it would at the bank. I suppose it's a good thing I ate an exceptionally hardy breakfast this morning!"

"Well, as soon as you've met the team, we can get you some food." He pointed to his office door. She sat her luggage down, and followed him inside.

"Angelina, this is Storm. She has been a teacher here longer than anyone. Please meet the other members of our X-Men team, a few of them teachers: Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Wolverine. Rogue, Iceman, and Colossus are among the oldest students here." The Professor pointed to the three and they nodded politely to her. "They still have a while before they will officially join the X-Men team, but they will be able to help you out the most when the rest of us are away and you are literally left to baby sit."

"Hello," she said shyly, nodding her head solemnly. The X-men nodded as well, but Nightcrawler was the only one who actually said hello back. Wolverine left as soon as the small introduction was made. The others followed, leaving only Rogue and Nightcrawler behind.

"Rogue will show you to your room and then you can grab some pizza."

Ange grabbed her luggage and followed Rogue. Ange took in the great wooden floors and decorated hallways. The lighting wasn't too bright or too dark; absolutely perfect. A few potted plants sat here and there and some framed art works hung on the walls. She even noticed the ornate door knobs, walking along in silence until they had reached the elevator.

"So what kind of art are you going to be teaching?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I figured I would ask everyone what they would like to do and go from there. I don't carry too many art supplies with me, beyond my personal sketchbook, drawing pencils, and watercolors; especially when I'm moving."

"I'd really like to do some pottery," Rogue said with excitement.

"I absolutely LOVE, pottery! In fact, I love clay altogether. Well, I never was a great sculptor, but I love working with it." The elevator door rang and the door slid open.

"So do you keep a sketchbook?"

"No. But if you want to talk to someone who might you should talk to Colossus. He likes to doodle little cartoons and such." She paused and the elevator door opened. Rogue pointed down to the end of the hall and they continued. They stopped in front of her door.

"I ah, I don't really know how to ask ... but," she sighed and looked at the door knob, trying to find the words to ask this tactfully. "Well, I'm just curious. What's your power?"

Rogue smiled. She didn't mind at all. "My touch. If any part of my skin touches anyone else's skin, I take their life force. And in the case of other mutants, I also take their powers and memories." Rogue showed Ange her gloves. Ange smiled with a delighted awe. She opened her door and set down her luggage.

"Mmmmm, here we come ...," she whispered as she turned and headed back out for the kitchen and dinner!

"Now, they just finished eating, so some will be in the TV room, and the others," Rogue said giggling, "as you can see, have followed us up here on their way to bed." Some of the kids peeked their heads out of the doors. They smiled & giggled, but none dared to say anything.

"What do you guys typically eat for dinner?"

"Oh, it depends. Most of the team helps to put dinner together, though we try to keep Wolverine out of the kitchen." She laughed, remembering a particular instance where he over boiled the spaghetti noodles. "They figured with the commotion of your arrival tonight that it would be best to order pizza."

Rogue and Ange entered the kitchen and the last of the younger children left. Iceman was still eating and Wolverine was in the TV room eating and watching the news. Ange quickly grabbed some pizza before the teenagers who were still lurking around the open pizza box devoured all of the remaining pizza. As they all sat eating, a little girl, around the age of 5 came up to Rogue.

"I'm hungry," she said as she tugged at Rogue's PJ pants.

"Would you like some pizza?"

She shook her head.

"How about some cereal?"

She shook her head again.

"Toast?"

"No."

"What do we have here?" Ange said, kneeling down the to the little girl's height. "I think we have ourselves a picky eater." She giggled but the little girl starred in disgust- she didn't like being called a picky eater.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Ange whispered. The little girl nodded with a bit of delight; little children adore secrets.

"I'm a picky eater too." The little girl scrunched up her nose and smiled, and she swayed from right to left, clenching her PJs. "Now, what would you like to eat? Maybe some fruit, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"

She grinned and nodded.

"All right, a PB&J it is. What kind of jelly do you like?"

"Strawberry . . ."

"Well ok." Ange could plainly see where the bread was: in a bread cupboard, in between the microwave and the sink.

"Where's the peanut butter, jelly, plates, and silverware?" Ange asked. Rogue set her pizza slice down and washed her hands off on a rag before she pulled down the jars of peanut butter and jelly and pulled out a plate and knife.

"Thanks."

She finished making the sandwich and sat the little girl in a chair right by the island. "So, what's you're name?"

"I'm Nightmare. I can control dreams, and I, and ... Rogue, what else can I do?"

"Veronica can control dreams and she has a small amount of telekinesis."

"Ya, that."

Storm walked in just as Veronica was halfway through her sandwich; jelly all over her face. Storm smiled and grabbed a napkin. "I thought I already put you to bed!"

"I was really hungry!"

"Well, what do you say?"

"Thank you!" Veronica hopped off the chair and scurried off with Storm back to bed.

"She's cute."

Rogue laughed. "She's a handful. The Professor is constantly telling her that she can't give the other kids nightmares just because they disagree, or because she lost a game of musical chairs. And she's constantly waking up in the middle of the night with her own nightmares. She hasn't learned how to control her dreams yet."

Ange starred into the TV room; Wolverine grumbled at the news and their "dangerous mutants attacked ... blah blah ... today". He finally flipped it off, tossed the remote to the table and left for bed. She turned back to Rogue. "What am I supposed to call them? Like with Veronica- do I call her Veronica, or Nightmare?"

"It really depends. We typically call them which ever they prefer, though we try to call the younger children by their birth names. As they get older they tend to prefer being called by their mutant names. Iceman goes by both Iceman and Bobby. I only go by Rogue. But Wolverine, half of the time we call him Logan, and the other half we call him Wolverine. And Cyclops' other name is Scott."

"Ok. Hey thanks."

"No problem."

Iceman, Rogue, and Ange sat around a little while longer in silence. Rogue had noticed the way Wolverine had acted early and knew that it would be on Ange's mind, and that he wouldn't be changing his behavior any time soon.

"You'll have to excuse Wolverine. He's a bit territorial- especially since I think he might feel that you're trying to replace Dr. Grey."

"Dr. Grey?"

"Dr. Grey, or Jean. She recently … ah … passed away. Wolverine loved her and Cyclops was engaged to her. Jean sacrificed herself to save the team. It's only been a few months since and Wolverine is having a hard time recovering."

"Oh wow. The Professor mentioned her before- her name seemed familiar. Oh, I'm so sorry. And I, I understand. I mean, even without such a recent tragedy, I knew that not everyone would feel comfortable with my new arrival." She was shocked.

"He'll come around eventually." Rogue put up the empty pizza boxes and Veronica's half eaten sandwich. "Well I'm going to bed."

"All right. I shouldn't be up too much longer."

Ange searched the kitchen for a clock. She heard a soft clicking in the hall- the kind made by a grandfather clock. Sure enough; the clocked chimed 10:30. She returned to the kitchen and realized that the microwave had a clock. She shook her head at herself and turned off the lights and headed to bed.


	3. Getting To Know You

Ange tossed and turned, uptight about her first day of school. She hadn't really been briefed about how many students were going to be in her class, where her class room was, or when class was to be held. And the regular jitters pricked her mind too: 'what do I do if one of the kids pulls a prank on me,' 'what if I say something wrong,' 'when is breakfast? I don't want to be late.'

She tried to calm her mind down with the reminder that the first day would be introducing herself, learning the kids names, and figuring out what they wanted do in her class; it wouldn't be too stressful or involved. That reminder didn't help too much.

Another topic came up as she rolled onto her right side: Wolverine. He was a scary man to have as an enemy, especially if you have no way to defend yourself. Now of course she didn't seriously think he would attack her, but his size and ability was intimidating, as well as his first attitudes towards her. She sighed deeply. She had never lost anyone that close, but his loss pulled on a string in her heart. 'I just have to make sure I make it obvious that in no way, shape, or form am I trying to take Dr. Grey's place. And try not to take anything too personally.'

She lifted her eyes out the window and watched the drizzling rain drops trickle down her window pane. You could hear the rain gurgling down the gutters and onto the pavement in the front driveway. Through the blurry window, she could see the moon peeking out from behind the remaining gloomy clouds, which were slowly saying their good byes, ready to welcome the dawn. A tree outside her window swayed softly in the soft breeze.

She turned over onto her back, and stared wide eyed at the ceiling. "It's useless. I simply can't fall asleep." She threw off the covers, slightly too warm. She sat and reached for her glass of water on her bed stand. Despite how heavy her eyelids felt, she had energy to spare. She looked around her room for something to do; she didn't have any inspiration to draw in her sketchbook, or any inspiration to pick up her writing journal. There wasn't much to report to her diary either. She saw her suit case open on the desk and decided she might as well go ahead and finish unpacking. As she was finished putting up the last articles of clothing, her alarm clock went off.

"Is it that time already?" She got up and checked the alarm clock. It was already 5 o'clock. She hopped into the shower, and turned on her small, portable, battery radio. She hummed and quietly sang along to some of her favorite country songs.

"Mmmmm. Whha, what!" Wolverine, having his room directly across the hall from Ange, woke up to the sound of country music and some muffled humming and off-tune singing.

"Great." Wolverine mumbled. He got up and shut his door completely, vowing never to accidentally leave his door partly cracked open again. He checked his own clock and groaned at its response. He went back to sleep trying to drown out the singing as much as he could by covering his head with a pillow.

Hair still wet, Ange emerged from her room, dressed, and carrying a few writing & drawing utensils. She first grabbed the newspaper from the front porch on her way to the kitchen for an early breakfast. She set her stuff down so she could rummage through the fridge. "Orange juice, milk, soda, apple juice ... hmmm, they probably have coffee- yuck. Hmmm." Ange's choice of morning drink was grapefruit juice- which they didn't have. She would have to settle for orange juice.

"Hmmmm, if I were a glass, or a cup, where would I be! What cabinets have I already been through ..." she started slowly searching each cabinet. She searched faster, making a bit more noise as her frustration grew.

"What are you looking for?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I wake you up?"

"No, I always get up this early."

"Oh. Well, I'm looking for the glasses."

"Glasses and cups are here."

"I thought looked there." She sighed and grabbed a medium cup from the cabinets- a cup with a worn out picture of Beauty & the Beast on it. She only poured herself a small glass.

"So I'm guessing you and Rogue ..."

"Ya." Iceman put some bread in the toaster, and looked over to Ange, offering to make her some.

"Oh sure. So, how long have you guys been going to the school?"

"I've been here a few years. Rogue just came this year- she's only been here a few months."

"Do many of the kids get up this early?"

"No, not too many. But they will be up here fairly soon. Breakfast is at 6:45 and school starts at 7:45."

"How many kids go here? I mean, that's a lot of breakfast to fix."

"We have about 67 students."

"So, who makes breakfast?"

"Typically the team- seems like they're sleeping in today."

"What's a typical breakfast?"

"Sometimes cereal- but most of the time some toast and a fried egg. The picky ones, like Nightmare, they typically have cereal anyway. And anyone who has cereal fixes it for themselves."

"Well, I could start cooking something if-"

"Oh, don't worry about it. I did sleep in a bit, but I should have breakfast whipped up in few minutes." Storm smiled as she reached into the fridge to grab some of the ingredients. "Well, looks like were almost out of eggs."

"And orange juice. I can pick up whatever we need at the store later today."

"Oh that's ok. I-"

"I have to get out to get art supplies as it is. I might as well get groceries too. Besides, I only have one class. I'll have a lot of free time."

"Well, ok. I can't believe we've run out of orange juice and eggs so quickly." Storm said

"Good morning- Storm, Iceman, Angelina."

"Good morning Professor."

"Could I talk to you in my office for a few moments?" The Professor spoke to Ange. As Ange followed him to his office, Storm and Iceman caught each other's glance- the kind wondering "what kind of trouble could she have gotten into already?"

"Now, most of the students have signed up for your class, but more may join after they hear from their friends, which means we may need to split up the class and make two classes. For today however, your art class will be at 9 o'clock. Here's the list of students who have signed up."

"Thank you."

"Can I get you anything else?"

"That should do it for now- oh, but I will need to go get the art supplies later today. And from what Storm said, it looks like we could use some groceries. I thought I could go get those today after my class."

"Sure. Talk to Cyclops first though- he'll tell you what car you can take."

A little boy came flying around the corner making air plane noises as he chased Kitty through the kitchen. Storm yelled at them to stop chasing each other in the kitchen. Ange stopped as quick as she could to keep from running into Kitty as they ran passed, but she ran right through her and through the fridge on the other side. She laughed, surprised to see so many of the younger children up so early; they still had 20 minutes before breakfast was ready.

Ange sat at the island and munched away at her toast as she flipped through the morning paper.

Wolverine walked in behind Ange and raised his eyebrows. He didn't say anything as he poured himself a cup of black coffee. Kids whizzed in and out of the kitchen, and Storm yelled at them to stop. She dodged the kids putting the last of the cereal bowls out, hoping she wouldn't have to clean up a mess this morning. Nightmare walked in, rubbing her eyes and still in her PJs.

"Shouldn't you be getting dressed, sleepy head?" Wolverine asked Nightmare.

"I had another bad dream. The house was on fire and you and everyone else was dieing."

"Come on, let's go get you ready." Wolverine walked Nightmare back up stairs and waited for her to emerge all ready.

"Anything good happening in the news?" A male voiced asked Ange. She didn't look up to see who it was.

"Hmmm, no."

"So no mutant lynchings then!"

She immediately stopped; completely stunned that someone would even suggest such a thing to her. She looked up from her paper. Wolverine had returned and Cyclops was pulling a mug out of the cabinets. It was obvious they both heard the comment, but neither said anything further. She couldn't place the voice either, since she had heard very few words from either so far. In either case, both held very serious faces and kept quiet. She starred into her orange juice for a few moments, trying to think of a response, but they both left before she had the chance. She put the paper down and turned to the list of students- even though she couldn't concentrate on it. How could someone even imply that to her?

The bell rang and the students cleared out to the rooms and the X-team left to teach. Ange let go of the issue, and forced herself to focus on the list of students she held in front of her.


	4. First Day

Please forgive my spelling mistakes. I do reread and read over it & I do use spell checker.

………………..

Ange moved to the couch in the TV room, sitting so that she could easily soak up the warm sunlight. She sat cross legged and studied her list carefully. Thirty-names were listed alphabetically with a number beside each name, indicating their appropriate grade level. The students compiled a wide range of ages, from second grade to 11th, or a Junior. The majority was overwhelmingly among the younger grades however.

She scanned over a few other notes, including shelving and tables for her art room; her own art room. Though it had been used as a study, the library was better for that, and the study had great, tall, wall windows over looking the back yard and the immense trees and beauty it beheld. She glanced outside, at the warmth and the glistening moisture that studded the grass and that was quickly evaporating from the basketball court. Considering that the art room wasn't organized yet- ha, she hadn't even a chance to see it, let alone organize it, and considering the beautiful weather, she hoped that she could move her class outside. She found nature more inspiring as well, as opposed to an old study which held the stigma of books, and papers, and grades.

All thoughts peacefully drained from her mind as she forget about everything and everyone around her, falling into a daze of the far way la-la land; she sat simply soaking up the warmth and the peace, the silence.

"Do you like it here so far?" Though Nightcrawler's voice was easy and friendly, his sudden speech ripped Ange from her gaze and day dreaming. He noticed he had startled her and smiled. She turned to face him as he sat down across from her.

"I didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh, don't worry about it." She laughed. "I'm easily distracted and easily startled." After a moments pause, waiting for him to speak again, she remembered that it was his question to her that startled her.

"I do like it here." She said quickly. "This house is just amazing. It's sophisticatedly rustic. And it's absolutely gorgeous!" She laughed. "And everyone is so friendly." Though she knew him to be as nice as the others, perhaps the most outgoing when it came to welcoming her, she felt the most uneasy around him. At least with the majority of the mutants, their mutations weren't physically noticeable. Even more so with Nightcrawler and his dark complexion, three fingers, pointed tail, and yellow eyes; to say the least, he quite reflected the media's persona of a demon. But she tried to keep her uneasiness from revealing itself to him.

"I'm glad you're comfortable." He smiled genuinely.

"Nightcrawler, right?"

"Yes. My real name is Kurt Wagner. But in the circus I was known as the Amazing Nightcrawler. And you are Angelina, right?"

"Oh, you can just call Ange."

"It's a beautiful name." Ange looked down at her papers for moment. She was unrightfully afraid that he might have been attracted to her.

"Ummm, thank you." She said quietly, hoping he would just leave now. Neither said anything for a moment or two, but Nightcrawler didn't leave.

"Nervous about your first day of class?"

"Yes, a little."

"You should do fine. They are all good children."

"Oh, I'm sure." She laughed slightly. "And just like all children, they enjoy figuring out how to push their new teacher's buttons."

"Children will be children." He smiled. "But I have no doubt that you'll do just fine."

"Nightcrawler, can you watch my class real fast?" Storm asked, peeking her head in the TV room from the hall way. "Lizie's sick." The little girl rushed into the bathroom, Storm following. Nightcrawler smiled at Ange and left to watch Storm's class. Storm came back out, looking to grab a glass of water.

"Oh Storm, where is the art room?"

"Let me take care of Lizie and I'll show you."

Ange nodded and turned back to papers. She finished sorting everything out and stacked it together. The bell would ring any minute now. Storm and Lizie came out of the bathroom and Cyclops took her back to her room with some crackers and ginger ale.

"It's this way. This is the main hall- leads to the Professor's office, the kitchen, the TV room, the bathrooms, the elevator, and to my room. I teach History, Math, and English. The Professor teaches Science. Wolverine has become our gym instructor. He teaches the kids different games and often joins in their games at recess. Though we each help train the children in their powers, Cyclops is the main instructor. There are a few of the children that only the Professor can help, such as Nightmare. Most of those children have some form of mind power. Jean used to help the Professor too, though we too are still honing our powers." She paused as they passed her room and she returned to the layout of the building. "At the end of the main hall," she paused and pointed the right and they rounded the corner, "is another hall. It's short. The door on the left we don't use. It's another door to my room, and we don't allow the children to use. The door on the right," she turned the knob and pushed it open, "is your room. Clubs will still be held here in the art room, but have all been instructed to leave all art supplies, projects, ect. alone. And back here, is the library." Stormed moved passed the desks and Ange followed from behind, instead of of nearly side by side with Storm. "The only way to the library is through the art room. Well, if you need anything else, just let us know."

"I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Well I had been hoping that since today is more of a day for me to meet my students and for them to meet me, that I could have class outside, as long as that's all right."

"Oh sure. I'd suggest working on the basketball court."

"Thank you." The bell rang and kids started pouring out of the library. Kids came and went, and finally, 31 students were sitting down, chattering away in the desks. You could hear Storm tell the children not to run in the halls. The last student came into the art room, books over flowing in his arms.

"Quiet please." It took a while, but finally the kids decided to cooperate. Now Ange's class wasn't separated by age or grade, like most of the other classes were.

"My name is Angelina, and I'm you're new art teacher as well as the official babysitter." 'What a job- 'official babysitter,' she teased herself. "Please call Ange. Now first, I would like to go around and have everyone tell me their name and what you would like me to call you. After that we're going to head outside to the basketball court." She jotted down some pronunciation annotations next to some names, nick names next to the others.

"Off to the basketball court- and please try to keep your voices down as we go through the halls. Oh, leave you're stuff here except for a pencil and a pen."

The ground was wet, but the basketball court was drying off nicely and quite fast. "Please everyone find a dry spot to sit down. Please fill out this sheet I'm passing around. If you don't want to fill out some of the questions, that's fine- but you need to fill out your birth date and what you would like to do in this class. When you're done, raise your hand and I'll come around and pick them up."

A few of the kids groaned at the hand outs and the curiously scanned over the small list of questions.

"Why do you want to know this stuff about us?"

"I'd like to get to know you all better. This is as good as a way as any, right?"

"Ya, whatever." Some of the older 'smart allics' didn't want to fill out the form. They were just taking the class because they figured it would be an easy grade and a chance to get other homework done- a study hall.

"I wasn't sure what to do first in this class, so I decided to ask what you all wanted to do. Hopefully we'll get around to doing all of it. Later today I'll be going out to get some supplies. But for now, I'd like you guys to draw whatever you want- your favorite things to draw. This will be your first assignment. Sign your name and date it before you hand it in. It will be due at the end of the class. If you finish drawing and would like to color it, I have some crayons and makers here. I'll be getting some colored pencils later today."

After a few moments of filling out the questionnaire and starting on their drawings, one of the older kids blurted out, "How are you going to grade us, huh? The ones who are good at art get A's?"

"Yes, everyone who is good at art will get A's." She paused. She had been very serious. She grinned when she saw their reactions and everyone quieted.

"That's not right, you can't do that."

"Well I'm afraid that I can. You see, everyone here is good at art. I will only grade you on effort and how well you follow instructions. For this assignment though, all you have to do is put your effort into drawing whatever you want."

The class settled down and they got to work. She didn't mind if they talked while drew- she was a social person herself and felt that art was incredibly social.

As they sketched away at landscapes, cartoons of the class, people, unicorns, airplanes- or jets, Ange sorted through their questionnaires. She wrote down how many students she had that were of the same age and wrote each of their birthdays on the calendar. She then wrote down all of the things the kids wanted to do. "Study hall ... draw ... paint ... make clay pots ... photography ... sketch ... draw ... charcoal ... metal sculptures ..."

"You have ten more minutes and then we're going to head back to the classroom so you all can get your stuff before the bell rings."

The ten minutes went by and they barely made it back to the classroom before the bell rang. "Don't forget to give me your art work before you leave! If I don't get it, you'll have a zero for the first assignment," she shouted over the loud chattering and bustling.

"Thank you, thank you- ohh, very nice. Thank you, thank you." Colossus was the last one to turn in his sketch. He left in a hurry out the door, but Ange stood there studying it. He certainly had talent. His passion seemed to be cartoons. He drew her class- kids throwing paper air planes across the room, a little boy sticking his tongue out at a girl, and one kid drawing all over the walls. She had to smile- as much as she hoped and prayed this would not be how her class would turn out, it was very imaginative and creative.

She sat down at her desk and sorted out where she would put things. She moved books that needed to be put back into the library. She cleared off old shelves that held some small figurines and she emptied cabinets that held dusty, cob webbed, dried out markers, faded construction paper, dried out and/or spilt glue, and dried up and spilt paint. She also washed the desks and rearranged them to give them more working space. She completely moved the desks against the back walls, where a few shelves of books were extended from the library.

"I'll have to talk to someone about getting a few tables put up in here. I could use some more cabinets as well. And suppose that does it for what I can do in here. Now, to figure out what I'll need to get and go shopping." Ange had a frequent habit of talking to herself- aloud and in her head.

She sat down at her desk- a nice cherry wood desk. It was different for her, having a desk. Her chair was comfortable- cushiony and it had wheels.

"Seems most of the kids are interested in drawing. Or maybe they just didn't know what else to put down. I'll definitely pick up sketchbooks, drawing pencils- oh," she paused and glanced around the room, looking a pencil sharpener attached to a wall. "We'll need a few pencil sharpeners. Water colors, colored pencils- someone mentioned charcoal. I'll pick up two sets. Scissors, definitely some more glue. We'll need rags and smocks. If we decide to do some sculpting and clay, then I can pick those supplies up later." She jotted everything down that they needed. Then she added orange juice, eggs, and grape fruit juice to the list. She decided she wanted some English muffins too.

"Mmmmmm, I could take a nap." The sun was shinning in through her windows. She could smell some food from the kitchen, and her energy finally had run out. She was definitely ready for a nap.

"AFTER I go shopping. I'll take a nap after I go shopping."


	5. Hot Wheels

"Cyclops?"

"Very good, concentrate. Good. Practice on your own for a few minutes- I'll be right back. ... Yes?" Cyclops had been in the middle of a training session with Lizie at the moment.

"I need to go to the grocery store and I need to get some art supplies. The Professor told me to speak to you about vehicles."

"Never take the motor cycle. And if it's blue, its mine."

"So, what car can I take?"

"Any other car that's not blue. The key's are hanging on the wall." Cyclops grinned and turned back. He was proud of his great care collection.

"Ummm, ok." 'Why couldn't you have just told me that from the beginning!' She rolled her eyes as she walked away.

She entered the garage and stood stunned at the huge selection of the cars. She looked over each car, running her hand over the glossy paints and peered inside. Each was miraculously clean, and newly waxed. There were few cars that weren't blue. A few silver and one yellow. As she looked around, she noticed a red car off in the corner- a red viper. She giggled to herself and raced over the wall where the keys hung. "He only said not to take a blue car!" She grinned mischievously and hopped in.

She had asked Storm just before talking to Cyclops about where the nearest hobby shop and grocery store was. She had a few scribbled instructions on the back of the grocery list. She sped off, out the garage and out the gates. Everyone could hear the car take off out of the driveway. Those who were close to windows with views of the front yard raced to see who it was.

"The Viper is Jean's!" Cyclops exclaimed, realizing he forgot about her car. He hung his head, only hoping that she didn't scratch it.

Ange put on her sun glasses, and pulled her light brown hair up into a messy bun. "Let's see if they get any good country tunes out here." She flipped from station to station. "Oldies, rock, pop, metal... ahhh, a cell phone?" She put the cell in her purse, in case they tried reaching her while she was inside the store. "Hmm, ah, here we go." She found a country station; it was fading- she could only hear half a song through all of the static, but it was good enough for her. She rolled down the windows, and sped down the windy road, radio blasting, and hand out the window catching the breeze.

….

"So what should we do about the new teacher?"

"We could hang the desks from the ceiling."

"We could make half of the room disappear."

"No, something good, but something that can't get us into too much trouble."

Colossus and some of the others discussed pranks with each other at lunch.

"Well she did just rearrange the room earlier. We could put everything back exactly where it was."

"Hmmm, it's not much of a prank, but enough that it'll be annoying and can't get us into too much trouble. But you'll have to tell us where everything was Precise."

Precise was a year younger than Colossus, but they had always been in the same grade and class and had become good friends. Precise had an EXACT photographic, sound, smell, touch, and taste memory. And he had a sweet tooth for trouble.

"Let's leave the room how it is now, and later tonight move it."

"Good idea." They looked up as Wolverine had noticed their suspicious whispering and stared at them from the other end of the cafeteria. They immediately sat up and changed the topic.

….

Ange didn't return home until four, at which time school was out and most of the children were outside playing games, or in the library finishing home work, playing chess, or playing on the computers.

The cell phone rang. Ange had to lean over to grab her purse from the passenger seat, which she could barely reach. She knocked the purse onto the floor, spilling several of its contents.

"Damn it!" She had to lean over and down to try to grab the cell phone. She couldn't quite reach it and had to keep sitting back up to make sure she didn't hit anyone one or anything. She was finally able to grab it, and she barely sat up in time to keep from hitting an on-coming car. The other car blew its horn at her and yelled out of his window. She ignored the car and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Is everything all right? Are you lost?"

"Oh no, I'm fine. I had trouble finding the hobby shop, and then finding what I needed there. I actually had to go to another hobby shop because they didn't carry charcoal- I'm not sure what hobby shop doesn't carry charcoal but-"

"So you're not lost?"

"Oh no. I'm on my way back now. In fact, I should be home in a matter of minutes."

"Well I just called to make sure you were all right." The Professor hung up immediately after.

"Hmph. Guess he's not a phone person." She shrugged. Quite honestly, she wasn't a phone person either. She preferred talking in person, or online. She turned the radio back up and sang the rest of her way homw.

Cyclops overheard the Professor's conversation and waited for Ange to arrive in the garage. She sped into the driveway, radio blasting some oldies tunes now. She got out and grabbed the bags from the front passenger seat. She starred at him and shook her head smiling.

"Forgot to tell me not to take the Viper, eh?"

Cyclops obviously didn't think it was funny. He immediately began inspecting the car for scratches and dents.

"I'll be back out. There's more bags in the back seat."

Cyclops was satisfied. She seemed to be a good enough driver, though he frowned when he noticed an M&M wrapper on the floor. He picked it up and grabbed a few bags of groceries out of the back.

Ange first put the orange juice and grape fruit juice in the fridge. Rogue was pulling a frozen pizza out of the freezer and was preheating the stove when Ange walked in. She noticed Ange putting the grape fruit juice in the fridge and made a funny face.

"Grape fruit juice!"

"Yep. Not a big fan of orange juice; orange juice just doesn't taste like the juice you get when you eat an actual orange. But grape fruit juice does."

"Heh, I'm not a big fan of sour stuff."

"I'm not really a fan of sour things either. Sour skittles, grape fruit juice, and lemon sorbet are the only somewhat sour things I enjoy."

"Ohhh, lemon sorbet! I love sorbet!" Iceman commented.

"My favorite flavor would have to be Baskin Robbin's Daiquiri Ice. You know, Baskin Robbin's should sell their flavors in the stores."

Iceman only nodded mouth full of cookies.

"Looks like I'm in good company around here." She laughed. "Y' all enjoy two of my favorite things: ice cream and pizza!" Rogue laughed too, nodding as she stuffed the pizza into the oven.

"Oh, I still have bags in the car. I'll be back."

She passed Cyclops on the way back to the car. "There's only one bag left," he said, making his way to the kitchen and setting the bags on the island.

Ange forgot she still had the sun glasses on her head and that her hair was back in a messy bun. It was a good look for her, though she only put her hair up that way when it was really bothering her. Her hair was a foot and half long- fine, thin, and straight! And her hair had this uncanny habit of getting in the way. Pulled the sun glasses off her head and let her hair down. She stuffed her glasses into her purse and grabbed the last bag of groceries.

After the groceries were put away, she carried the bags of art supplies back to the art room. She set out a sketchbook on every desk. She set out two pencils on every desk. She grabbed one of the containers she had bought and put the charcoal sets, the colored pencils, water colors, glue, and scissors inside and shoved the container onto a shelf. She arranged a sitting order, and wrote the names of each student on the sketchbooks according to where they would sit. When all of the supplies were put away, she returned to her room to grab a few of her favorite paintings and some of her own framed art work to put up in the art room. A few of the students watched carefully as she organized the room, pausing their home work for a few minutes. Ange had always been distracting to others, and very easily distracted herself.

After the running around and shopping and the last minute organizations she had done, she was really tired. Emotionally drained from all of the new people and opportunities she found her and physically tired from not enough rest from the night before and from running around that day.

Ange grabbed a slice of pizza Rogue had cooked and headed to her room. She didn't realize she still had the cell and the keys to the Viper in her purse, but for the moment, no one was going to care or notice. She had finished eating by the time she got to room. She quickly pulled the curtains shut and fell fast asleep on her bed, still in her clothes and shoes.


	6. Ten O'Clock News

**LOL- another side note, I have a spacey habit of skipping words! I'm sooo sorry if I didn't catch that! blushes**

……..

"Shhhh. Wolverine is still up."

"Wow, she's done a lot since she moved everything around." The boys peered around the dark room, bits of moonlight falling in through the wall windows.

"Look, sketchbooks."

"Ya. Even nice pencils."

"Look at some of these pictures."

"Did she do them?"

"Pfff. Hell if I know."

"Maybe she won't be too bad after all."

"Let's just get the prank over with. Precise, start telling us where everything was." The boys weren't pulling a prank on her because they didn't like her; they were pulling the prank to see her reaction and because they thought it would be really funny.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be in bed?" Wolverine walked in and spoiled their fun before they could start their trouble. He had doing his nightly routine check, making sure everyone was in bed and that all the doors were locked and the lights were off. The boys gave each other side glances and left quietly. Wolverine looked around once more, scanning the room for anything unusual, before he closed and locked the door.

…..

"Mmmmm. Mmm, what time is it?" Ange rolled out of bed, and checked her clock. "Wow, slept for a really long time." It was nine when she woke up. She had red lines all over her face from her jacket sleeve that she had fallen asleep in. She yawned and stretched.

"Mmmm, geez I'm hungry." She changed into her pant PJ's and a sweater and headed to the kitchen for a late snack/dinner. She'd catch the news, and maybe an episode of CSI.

"Might want to lock your door next time." Wolverine tossed the art room keys at Ange. It caught her off guard and gave her little time to react; she barely caught the keys.

"Do you stay up late very often?" Ange asked, grabbing a glass of grape fruit juice and a bowl of cold mac and cheese from the fridge.

Wolverine only shrugged his shoulders. She put the mac and cheese into the microwave and set the timer.

Nightmare came down into the kitchen, whimpering slightly, rubbing her eyes.

"I can't sleep. The man keeps trying to get me." Ange knelt down beside her.

"What man?"

"The bad man in my dreams."

Wolverine stood sipping at his soda, observing Ange.

"Come on. I'll tell you a story, ok?"

Nightmare nodded her head sleepily and Ange picked her up and took to her room.

"Which room is yours?" Nightmare pointed to a door that was cracked open. Ange sat her down in bed and tucked the covers in all around her. She picked up Nightmare's stuffed tiger and handed it to her. She pulled a chair up to the side of her bed, ready to tell her a bed time story.

"Have you ever heard of the story of Hercules?"

"No."

"Oh, Hercules was a great, strong man. He was half human, and half god- son of Zeus, the king of the gods. The gods gave him several tasks that he had to perform. Extremely hard, dangerous, and frightening tasks; tasks that no other man could do ... "

Nightmare fell asleep fast, and Ange returned to the kitchen to finish her dinner. Wolverine was watching the news, and Ange joined him on the couch, with her slightly warm bowl of mac and cheese.

"A little girl went missing today in Southern Colorado. They say she was snatched out of her backyard while her grandmother was in the kitchen making lunch. Witnesses have described the kidnapper as a white male, in his mid 30's. He has black hair and they have described him as being quite muscular. He seems to be driving a white mini van. If you know anything of his where abouts, please call crime stoppers at ..."

Ange laughed to herself. The person they described sounded just like Wolverine. Wolverine glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, and she tried to suppress her laughter. She must have given him a horrible impression- laughing at a poor little girl who went missing! She finished her mac and cheese, and set the empty bowl on the coffee table.

"In other news today, the President has been discussing options with other nation's leaders about the best way to handle the mutants. He said earlier today at a press conference in Boston, 'I understand that not all mutants are evil, just as not all humans are evil. However they have more power than the majority than us and power has the tendency to corrupt.' Congress will be meeting later in the week to discuss options.

More bodies were found today in the rumble created by the tsunami ..."

Wolverine grumbled. Ange shook her head.

"They just don't understand," Nightcrawler whispered.

Wolverine and Ange turned to look behind them to see Nightcrawler looking sympathetically at the TV screen. Wolverine rolled his eyes and grabbed Ange's bowl as he got up to leave.

"The Pope went to hospital again earlier this morning. Doctor's say that his condition is worsening, but they are all hopeful he'll come through."

Nightcrawler made the sign of the cross, praying for the good health of the Pope. Ange starred at him in amazement. She muted the TV, and tried to get the words out.

"You're Catholic?"

"Yes." He nodded, lowering his head, half expecting her to make some horrible comment about the Catholics. Ange sat up and turned to face him more, holding onto the back of the couch to keep herself from falling backwards off of it.

"I just..." she laughed, "I would have never guessed. I mean, I'm Catholic too. Went to a Catholic school my whole life."

"Really?" His eye lit up. "I had wanted to go a Catholic school, but I was an orphan, and didn't get much of a chance to join a school after I had been adopted by the gypsies in the circus. And I always wanted to be a priest, but I'm afraid that the temptations of the body would cause me to break the priestly vows." If it was possible to see Nightcrawler blush, you would have seen him do so just now.

"I thought about becoming a nun. For the longest time, I feared that God wanted me to be a nun, simply because I didn't want to be one. I got over that. After I marry, if I marry, and when and if my husband dies, I would become a nun then. But I love children too much to be a nun right now."

"The children are such special gifts! They are so pure. They don't have prejudices like we do. They don't fear like we do. They trust and love so much, which is why Jesus loved to let the children come to him."

"They're full of energy and they know how to have fun!"

Nightcrawler and Ange stayed up longer, the TV muted in the background. They discussed theology, culture, their pasts, and several other topics- you know the way that conversation topics evolve, to a point that you don't really understand how you got onto that particular topic! As their conversation slowed down, they heard the grand father clock in the hall strike midnight.

Ange sighed deeply. "I should probably go to bed. My art class is fairly early in the morning. But I not tired. I couldn't sleep last night- I woke up at about 3 and couldn't get back to sleep. But I took a nap today around 4 and slept til' 9. I've never taken a nap so long. But I really should go to bed."

"I am getting sleepy too." He stood up and yawned. "It is very nice to know that I'm not the only Catholic here."

"Same here."

"Well good night and God Bless."

Ange smiled. "Don't let the bed bugs bite." He left and Ange flipped off the TV. "Blind Date," she chuckled and tossed the remote onto the couch. She put away the dishes that were still out and wiped down the island, counter, and table. She put away the grape fruit juice and a bag of cookies someone left out. She took one last look around, making sure everything was put up. She turned off the lights and headed upstairs.

Still not sleepy, she grabbed her journal and started jotting down some ideas for names and character dynamics she had thought of recently. She set her sketch book on her lap, and leaning against her head board she starred out the window. There was a clear sky tonight. She could see a few stars and the beautiful moon through the trees just outside her window. She put her journal away, kicked off her slippers, and turned out her lamp.


	7. Subconsciously

(Tis a short chapter, I know.)

……………..

Ange tossed and turned, and moaned lightly in her sleep. She managed to tangle herself in the sheets and to kick her comforter completely off the bed.

Her dream was in a dark, dusty house with no electricity that was located high up in the mountains. The all but one of the windows had no glass and the screens were torn to threads. Tattered sheets hung from the ceiling and the floor boards squeaked; in some places there were wholes the size of a small cat in the floor. Most of the door ways were horizontal slits that she couldn't properly fit through.

She found herself starring at a TV that they could never watch, sitting on a routing couch with moth eaten holes and stains. A prickling sensation crawled up her spine and she jerked her head to the side, peering through the misty darkness. She could hear a faint breathing and the light rustle of cloth and movements. Whatever it was that lurked about the dark house, she knew it meant harm.

Outside, through the single window that held glass, a blurry and dirty window, she could see bodies that lay strewn across the lawn. A small, rickety, shed lay just beyond the bodies, backed up against the fence. The shed looked as if it would collapse in the slightest wind. She turned her view back to the interior of the house, and scanned across the front door, the stair way, hallways, and other rooms. One of those rooms seemed to call her, pull her. She carefully squeezed herself through the horizontal door, that was only a foot high, and entered the room; a room where most of the ceiling was missing. Even though the room was exposed to the elements, it wasn't cold, even for the dead of night. And there were no stars or clouds in the sky. And though rays of moonlight entered the room, there was no moon visible, anywhere.

The only object in the room was a shattered and pieced-back-together mirror. Standing before it, she noticed her plain, grey, stiff cotton jumper and grey slippers. Her hair was a dull brown, which lay straight down, tangled and unbrushed. She had dark bags under eyes and her lips were so pale they looked white. Her eyes were so dark they almost looked black.

She thrust herself backward from the mirror, horrified at the ghastly sight she had become. A noise banged on the walls within the room and she scurried through the door as fast as she could. It caught her right leg before she was completely out of the door and her shoe fell off. She ran from room to room, seeing shadows move every which way. She tripped and scrapped her knee, and wincing she looked up. Storm starred down at her with red eyes, wearing an elaborate, beautiful, wine red gown. She ran outside, hurling herself up and over the bodies that she recognized; her mom, her brother, her highschool crush, her old youth minister from high school, her best friend, and others. She ran towards the gate, looking behind her at the house and the bodies. Not looking back was her mistake, and she ran right into Wolverine. He stood still, red eyes glaring and his arms flexed, claws out. She moved quickly backward and tripped over a body- Jean's. The fall seemed to kill Jean, though she was already dead. Ange's swirled with confusion and fear. She starred into Jean's glazed eyes, horrified that she had killed her, but so curious as to how she had killed her, when she was already dead.

Wolverine barred his teeth and Ange darted passed him as fast as she could. Her arm was in immense pain, gushing blood- one of Wolverine's claws caught her arm as she dashed by. She shook the gate's lock that wouldn't budge as Wolverine slowly made his way towards her. His breath was visible and madness gleamed in his eyes. She panted for her life and threw all of her weight against the gate, wincing at the horrible pain it caused in her left arm. Finally the lock gave way and she threw the gate open. She ran to the other side of the road and starred back at the fence, clutching her arm. All of the X-Men were gathered, as well as some of the students, along the gate, starring with wide red eyes. Painted in the blood of her friends on the back of the shed was written: "No Trespassing." They would not leave the gate to get her; so long as she was no longer there, they didn't seem to care.

Ange sat up in bed, panting hard. She gasped for air and jumped when she heard the wind blow the tree against her window outside. She carefully scanned her room for any intruders, and lay back down, eyes wide open. She went over the dream, part by part, though not in order, trying to figure out what it meant. The only part that she was fairly certain about was the "No Trespassing" sign and the X-Men chasing her out; it meant she wasn't quite sure that she belonged, that she fit in. There hadn't been any instances between herself and the others that made her feel unwelcome; it was simply her own worries and concerns of the new place, a new life.

She went back to bed as best she could and had forgotten the dream completely by morning.


	8. Regular Nanny

For future reference, Lizie is Elizabeth Braddock- otherwise known as Psylocke. And Kitty is Kitty Pryde, or Shadowcat.

………

When her alarm went off at five, she groaned and hit the snooze button. She wasn't all that tired, but it was just one of those mornings where you don't want to get out of bed. Her dream stirred in the back of her mind and she fought to remember it. The only thing she could recall was an uncanny chill that spread throughout her bones. The alarm went off again ten minutes later, and she rolled out of bed.

"All right, all right." This time while taking a shower, she turned the radio to oldies. Her singing hadn't improved much from the morning before, but at least it was easier to sing to oldies than to country. She quickly dressed, peeking out of her window to see how warm it might be today. I suppose you could call Ange a prep. She wore clothes that she liked, that she felt comfortable in, but often those were hooded sweaters, cords, jeans, a few collared (but not polo) shirts, and tank tops. She absolutely loved flip flops- closest thing to not wearing shoes at all.

She shuffled down the hall way, not quite awake. She could hear a few other alarms go off and heard a few dresser draws open and shut.

Storm was in the kitchen trying to throw together some omelets for breakfast. She got up late and was running behind, trying to coordinate the omelets, toast, and getting cereal bowls set out.

"Miss Storm, I don't feel well." Lizie strolled into the kitchen, her face as pale as her nightgown.

"Come here, let me see if you have a fever." Ange took Lizie into the TV room.

"Hmmm, you might have a slight fever. How don't you feel well?"

"My stomach. I have a really bad headache, and I think I might puke."

"Lizie's been sick lately. It was going around the school last week. Lizie has a bad immune system- she gets sick easily." Storm said, continuing to flip the omelets. They smelt good! The sizzling cheese and bacon bits! A little bit of onion and garlic.

"Well, go back to bed and I'll bring up some soup and crackers. Do you want some ginger ale?"

"No thanks. Water is fine."

"Ok. We'll check you're temperature when I come up."

Lizie nodded and sluggishly drug herself back up to her room.

"Thanks for helping out." Storm said, stirring the omelets.

"No problem. That's what I'm here for."

"The soup is in the cabinets above the fridge. Here, here's a bowl. Do you know where the laundry room is?"

Ange shook her head.

"It's on the second floor. It's the door to the right of the towel closet. Go inside, and you'll find a medicine cabinet; inside is the first aid kit. There should be a thermometer in there. Lizie's room is 103."

Wolverine passed Ange with her tray of goodies for Lizie on his way into the kitchen. He turned and watched her turn the corner in the hall and then turned to Storm. "She's a regular Nanny." His tone was sarcastic and caustic. Storm laughed at his facial expressions, quickly suppressing it- the children were starting to come down for breakfast.

Ange took a tray upstairs with some crackers, soup, and water. She knocked on the door softly and went in. "I'll set this on your desk and you can eat it whenever you want. Let me go get the thermometer."

Ange returned with the whole first aid kit; she figured it would be easier to sift through the kit when sitting down. "Here we go. Ok, hold this under your tongue for five minutes." ... "Hmmm, a real slight fever: 99.9. Just relax and lay in bed. If you need anything, you know where to find me. If I'm in art class don't hesitate to come and grab me, ok?"

"Thanks." Lizie said. She pulled the covers over her and Ange shut the curtains.

Ange could hear the loud chattering of the children and the clattering of spoons in the cereal bowls and forks against their plates from down the hall. Kids were bustling in and out of the kitchen, grabbing their breakfast plates, drinks, and putting away their empty dishes. She found Rogue helping to herd the kids around; help them get what the needed and direct them out of the kitchen when they were done. Storm must have left to get ready for class. Rogue yelled that there was 5 more minutes until the bell rang. The last minute sleepy heads dashed into the kitchen and grabbed some fruit on their way outside- their first class was gym.

…………..

"Settle down. Please find the sketchbook with your name on it; that's where your new seat." She waited for them to find their seats and get settled down; she waited for their moaning and groaning about the new seat arrangements to quiet before she continued.

"Ok, first, your sketchbooks will be due every Friday- first one is due tomorrow. It's not a large assignment- all I want you to do is sketch, or write, make notes of things that inspire you. But please, don't just put something down to get a grade. If a really cool idea comes to you, sketch it- or make notes on it. If you get inspiration to write a poem, write it in your sketchbook. Now, from time to time I will have some more specific things for you to do in your sketchbooks as well.

Today we're going to start off with a simple still life. I'm not a big fan of still lifes, so we won't spend a lot of time on them. But they do help you to notice proportions and shading, positions and perspective." She walked over to a table she had set up. "This is our still life piece. DO NOT TOUCH IT. I would like you to include most of the scene in your still lifes. Paper is on this table. Your still lifes are due Monday. You can move up to one of these stools if you would like." She sighed, trying to think if there was anything else; it seemed like she was forgetting something, but she couldn't remember it. "All right, the time is yours!"

She moved over to her easel, facing perpendicular to the still life set up and began to sketch the still life too. She paused for a moment and looked over the class- which triggered something. "Oh, it seems that a few more students might be joining us. If that is the case, will we be splitting this class up. We'll split it up according to age." The class seemed to barely notice her last statement, so she returned to her sketch and the rest of the class started sketching and whispering. The whispers grew louder, but she didn't mind.

"Anyone here have anything against some oldies?" A few kids groaned, but most shook their heads. "Good." She turned on the radio and continued to work on her sketch.

From time to time she would over hear the latest gossip about boyfriends and girlfriends, quarrels, arguments, and break-ups; who liked who and who hated who.

…….

"It's time to clean up." She announced. "I have a shelf in the back. There are enough cubbies for you each to have one. Take some masking tape and write your name on it and put it below the cubby you want. You can keep your sketchbook there if you like, and that is where I would like for you to keep your still life sketches each day until their done."

The kids got up and claimed their cubbies. They grabbed their bags, and the bell rang. They rushed out the door, resembling a herd of buffalo or cattle. She sat down, relieved. Second day seemed to go well, though she had hoped for more conversation with the kids, which no one else seemed interested in. Ange spent most of the rest of the day hanging each of the drawings they had turned into her the day before, on the bulletin board. She finished up her still life, and left it out for the students to refer to. She would start on another idea tomorrow- an idea she had only briefly sketched in her own sketchbook. She sat down, analyzing her idea, thinking of ways to expand on it, better it, complete it. Her mind wandered and she wound up thinking about the kids at her old job and the kids here- and that's when she remembered that Lizie was still up stairs, sick. She put down her sketchbook and left for Lizie's room. She was experiencing artists' block as it was.

She softly knocked on the door, but Lizie didn't answer. She opened the door slowly to find Lizie fast asleep. She replaced a few of the covers that had fallen off of Lizie and moved over to her desk. She had eaten most of the soup and only crumbs were left where whole crackers had once been. Her water was gone as well. She grabbed the tray and lightly shut the door behind her as she left.

Ange was in the kitchen washing the bowl and tray when Nightcrawler walked in calmly. "I heard little Lizie is sick. How is she doing?"

"Ok, considering. She's fast asleep right now. Good news is that she ate her soup and crackers. I think she's getting better, but only time will tell."

Nightcrawler nodded. Ange dried off the tray and put some more crackers and soup on it, and a full glass of water. "I'm going to take this up to her, but I'll be right back."

"Ok."

Ange set the tray down on Lizie's desk. She placed the back of her hand on Lizie's forehead- she couldn't tell if her fever had gone down any or not- she had such a slight fever it was hard to tell.

"She might have a slight fever," she said as she walked back into the kitchen.

"I hope she gets well soon."

"Same here. Apparently it was going around last week."

"Yes. Several of the younger ones had it."

…………

The first official day of class was slow, and the days after would pretty much follow suit. Things would pick up slightly- as they were gaining eight more students. The Professor decided to split the class, 20/20. She would now have a second hour art class and a fourth hour art class. The younger kids had their class earlier in the day and the older kids had their class later in the day. She would read the newspaper in her free time, sketch- whatever she could; plants, some of the kids at the school, angels- heh, she even started a sketch of Nightcrawler. His appearance, yet his devotion to Catholicism intrigued her greatly. His tattoos, dark skin, and "devil's tail" was such an interesting combination. She drew her own versions of Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, and the Professor and what she thought it would look like for them to use their powers. She had ALWAYS been fascinated by mutants. In her free time she would also write in her diary. She wrote about events, feelings, observations, beliefs, poems, and dreams:

"... Thursday ...

I'm not sure what to think about the X-men. The Professor and Nightcrawler, whose real name is Curt, they're really nice. Storm, I dunno. She seems to want to like me, but still a bit apprehensive around me at the same time. And I understand. Cyclops- hmmm. Well, hahaha, he's a bit obsessive with his cars. And I think he's not sure what to think of a new girl member to the team, (well kinda to the team), since he lost his fiance only a few months ago. But at least he seems to be more comfortable with my arrival then Wolverine. Wolverine rarely says anything to me- definitely on purpose. Rogue said he's being territorial- feels I'm replacing Jean, or trying to. Still, he certainly doesn't go out of his way to be polite. Oh I just don't know. I can understand why- maybe- a little bit. He lost someone close, and oh, while I know how much that has to hurt, I just don't understand why he has to push the blame off onto me! I mean, I just. … oh forget it.

One of my art students is incredibly talented, though he is kinda a goof-off, along with a few of his friends who are also in my class. He's a good kid. Hahaha, I think I say that about all of them. Ohhhhh, there's the cutest little girl here. They call her Nightmare because she can control dreams and she often purposely gives the other kids nightmares. She's only about 5. She's really adorable. Reminds me of myself; she's incredibly picky and stubborn. And I really like all of the kids- though I only have 32- well, 40 kids in my art class. Tomorrow we're going to split the class up into two classes of 20 students.

Oh, I had the neatest idea for a picture depicting emotions- like a struggle of emotions. Only, I can't figure out how to- how to really get it to turn out the way I want to. I have this great array of ideas, half pictures in my head- but it's really hard to transfer to paper. I've tried a few times in some simple sketches- they haven't turned out like I'd like them too. But, I have a lot of free time with only two classes and not a lot of homework, so I'll have time to play around with some ideas.

..."


	9. lions and Tigers and bears, oh my!

Her alarm clock went off, but she didn't notice for an hour. She finally heard a faint ringing and slapped the snooze button. Not thinking clearly, she simply rolled over and went back to sleep. Around 6:35 she heard the kids getting up, taking showers, chatting in their rooms, giggling, open doors, slamming doors, and running down the halls. In her sleep, she forgot she was no longer in Washington, D.C.- where she only had to get up at 7. At first she didn't understand why there was all of this commotion- the other tenants in her apartments had never been this noisy. As she sat up though, yawned and stretched, she remembered and groaned. She hated sleeping in when she wasn't supposed to- started her days off bad, leaving her to rush through everything- and she would be tired for most of the day.

Still in a daze, she wandered down the stairs, rubbing her eyes and yawning, into the kitchen. Lying on the island counter were a few pieces of cold, buttered toast and an untouched bowl of cereal. She stood at the island a few moments, trying to wake up and then realized that she needed a spoon. When she returned to the island, spoon and glass of water in hand, she couldn't find a stool. Wolverine wandered in and saw her sleepy, confused gaze, and pulled up a stool.

"Sleepy are we?"

"Oh, … ya. Oh thanks." She down and started eating. She thought of the other morning, and how there had been omelets; she wanted an omelet this morning. As her thoughts rummaged over the previous morning, and trying to pull herself awake, she remembered about Lizie. "Do you know how Lizie's doing?"

"She was down here for breakfast this morning, running around chasing the guys because they stole her toast. So, I'd say she's doing better."

Ange nodded in approval. She munched away at her breakfast, and Wolverine poured himself a cup of coffee and left.

……..

The kids came clamoring into her second hour class. She threw their bags down and rushed to get there still lifes out. As they sat down, one by one, to continue working on their sketches, they noticed Ange's sleek sketch standing by her desk. Like most little kids, they were mesmerized. They all began to sketch and chat, giggle and laugh, all except one little boy. It took Ange a little while to notice that he was sitting in a corner all by himself, without his sketchbook open, or his still life on his desk.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he sniffled. He wouldn't look up at her.

"Come on now, I know that frown. What's wrong?"

"They're making fun of my tiger."

"Who?" He pointed to a few boys who were pushing each other and trying to grab the other's sketch. Ange stood up behind them.

"Do I need to separate you boys?" They stopped laughing a little, and of course said no. "There will be no rough housing in my classroom. You will keep your hands, brushes, pencils- everything to yourself and you will not disturb the other children. If I have to, I'll separate you all by putting you in the other class." They stopped laughing, but nothing could wipe the grins off of their faces. Ange knelt down beside Tommy again.

"Let me see your tiger."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I hate it."

"Ohhh, why do you hate it?"

"It doesn't look like a tiger."

"Let me see it."

"No."

"Please?" The boy reluctantly put his sketchbook out on the desk and Ange flipped to the first page. "Now why do you hate this! I think this is a great tiger!"

"Is not! It's black- tiger's aren't black," one of the other boys volunteered.

"Not everything has to look like what it is, you know. Several famous artists used abstract art, like Picasso."

"Who's he and what's abstract?"

"Picasso was a famous Spanish artist who helped develop a technique called cubism- a form of abstract art. Abstract art is simply taking something, like a tiger, and making it NOT look like a tiger."

"But I want it to look like a tiger!"

"Well, I think you're off to a great start. But something that might help you is if you look at an actual picture of whatever it is that you want to draw. Here ..." Ange wondered off into the library and came back with an encyclopedia. "T, Te, Ti, Tiger. Here, here's a good picture. All you have to do is look at this and draw the tiger. The more you practice, the better you'll get."

"I'll never be as good as you."

Ange chuckled. "You're already better than I was when I was your age. I didn't really start drawing until I was much older. If you start drawing now and you keep practicing, you'll be much better than me!"

"Really?" For the first time he lifted his face up to her, with a question of hope.

"I wouldn't lie to you Tommy."

Tommy worked on his tiger for the rest of the class period while the rest of the class worked on their still lifes.

"It's time to clean up," she called out. "Everyone pass forward your sketchbooks. I'll have them graded by the end of the day, if you want to come by and grab it." The bell rang and Ange moved to stand at the door to collect the sketchbooks. They put away their still lifes and grabbed their bags, heading out the door.

She spent activity period grabbing something more to eat and a trip to her room for some of her folders and pens. She then spent third hour grading the sketchbooks. If they drew or wrote anything and she could tell they had put effort into, she gave them 10/10 points. Tommy's sketchbook was among the last she graded, which also meant that fourth hour was about to start.

She gazed delightfully over Tommy's several sketches of his tiger. One was running- almost jumping. That was the first picture. Another was of a tiger at a water pool- little kids art work is just the cutest thing. She smiled brightly at his perspective of the water and it's reflection. And the last sketch was of a tiger simply standing, his right paw still in the air and his face red with blood. She rolled her eyes and laughed- little boys will be little boys. You certainly wouldn't find a six year old girl drawing a cute, cuddly tiger with blood all over his face!

'I love these Tommy! They're great! See how much looking at a picture can help! Keep up the good work. 10/10.' She scribbled down on a sticky note and attached it to the page.

She was finishing up grading the last two sketchbooks when the fourth hour bell rang.

"Please quiet down a bit. I don't mind if you talk, but we need to keep it down so that the other classes don't hear us. But I am taking suggestions on radio stations..."

"Hey 98.9."

"No no. 102.9"

"No, 93.4"

"All right. I suppose I should ask what KIND of music you'd like to listen to?"

"Rock."

"Metal."

"Rock."

"Pop."

"Oldies."

"Rock."

"Hmmm, seems like Rock wins. What's a good rock station?"

"That would be 103.5."

"Ok, 103.5 it is." The kids kept asking to turn it up a little bit louder, a little louder, and a little bit louder. She turned it up some, but refused to comply after that. The kids laughed and joked the whole class period. Ange, over hearing a few, couldn't help but laugh as well. She'd join in here and there. Colossus noticed that she was over hearing some of their jokes. He finished his still life the other day- he came in after school to work on it. So, he doodled in sketch book- "Miss Ange trying to hide her laughter while trying to paint a master piece."

Periodically she would wander through the room, looking over their sketches and giving advice here and there. She turned the music down a bit, still trying to stop laughing- she was one of those "types" that if you got her laughing, it would be a while before she could stop. "Don't forget that your sketch books are due at the end of the period and your still life's are due Monday."

Ange put off grading the sketch books until after fourth hour. She had finally hit some inspiration and she was quickly sketching ideas and color schemes for this "emotional war". She filled up a few pages, making comments about what she wanted to convey, what images she wanted to use, what colors- what themes. She crossed a few out, put question marks next to some, and circled the ones she really wanted to do. After an hour- her idea was complete: a sorrowful girl standing alone on a windy, dark, hill- her clothes changed colors and patterns in the wind- fading from one emotion to the other- flowing into the other. She was really happy with the idea. And at the bottom of this piece, she would write in a light grey, a small free verse poem. She smiled; now she could go and eat some lunch.

Ange is very peculiar in several ways- one, which seems to be a genetic trait- if she is really involved in something, she forget to eat. She could end up going without eating for hours because of this. And sometimes, being very stubborn, she would simply refuse to eat until she was at a point that she felt she could stop.

……..

Just as school was over, the Professor called a mandatory meeting with the X-men team.

"Please close the door Cyclops. Thank you." The Professor immediately started into the point of the meeting. "I believe I have discovered one of Magneto's plans, though I don't know if he has already carried it out or not- which is why I have been holding off on this meeting for a few days now. I believe that Magneto is planning, or may already have, kidnapped the President and replaced him with Mystique. And he's not working alone this time. I have located a place that I believe they are already holding the President. I am under the impression that they already have kidnapped the President, but I am not completely sure of this.

Tomorrow night Storm, Cyclops and I will locate this place. We will find out if the President has been captured, and perhaps attempt a rescue. Wolverine and Nightcrawler, you will be going to a laboratory on Long Island."

"Should I inform the Nanny?" Wolverine questioned dryly.

"No, I will inform her later tonight. Now Wolverine and Nightcrawler, you will need to get into the laboratory as quietly as possible. You cannot set off the alarm, and if you encounter anyone, you cannot use your mutant powers against them. It is imperative that they don't know who you are."

Wolverine chuckled. "Ya, they won't notice the difference in Nightcrawler's skin color, tattoos, or his tail." Cyclops chuckled too, as well as Nightcrawler himself.

"I understand that. I suppose I am telling you, Logan, not to use your powers. I have reason to believe that they are also kidnapping unique mutants. For what purposes, I don't know. But if they saw you, they would try everything to keep you from leaving. And if Magneto is involved, they will immediately know that we've been sneaking around in this mess."

The X-men were excused and Ange was summoned to the Professor's office. The X-Men went to the TV room to set up their Friday game night, which was going to be a game of poker tonight.

"The team will be leaving tomorrow night. After dinner though, so you won't have to worry about dinner. I'll leave you our coordinates and a number to reach us at. Again, if you need any help, you can always ask Rogue, Iceman, and Colossus."

"Ok. Say, do you guys do anything on Saturdays?"

"What do you mean? Often we organize games outside and sometimes we take a few kids to the mall- if they've been really good." The Professor smiled.

"Well, I was wondering if I could tell the little kids ghost stories tomorrow night, and then once they were in bed, rent a scary movie for the older kids to watch."

"Hmmmm. It would be a nice treat. They really don't get to see too many movies, especially scary movies- the older kids. We always watch movies as a group. Yes, I suppose there's no harm in it. Just use good judgment in selecting the film."

"Oh definitely! Oh, this gonna be fun!" She stood up and turned to the door with an extra bounce in her step. She gripped the knob and turned to the Professor, "Thanks!"


	10. The Shining' New Gloves

Ange went to the kitchen and fixed herself some left over pancakes. Iceman, Rogue, and Colossus were eating some ice cream and laughing at some of Colossus' doodlings. Ange wandered over to their table, beaming.

"So, what kind of scary movie do you guys wanna watch?"

"What do you mean?" She peeked their interest and they looked up from their bowls of ice cream.

"I mean that tomorrow the X-team is taking off, leaving me in charge. AND, after I finish telling the younger kids some ghost stories, we're gonna watch a scary movie. Soooo, what movie do you wanna see?" She grinned brightly and awaited answers.

"Gothika?"

"No. I saw that when I was home for Thanksgiving. It's not that great."

"The Ring? I haven't seen that yet and the Ring 2 is coming out soon."

"Ya, it's all right."

"So you guys ok with the Ring then?"

"Sure, why not."

"Hey, have you guys seen the Shining?"

"No. Heard about it though."

"That's a good scary movie."

"Ok. None of us have seen it- makes it that more suspenseful."

"Great! Soooo, how much pop corn do we have?"

"Ummmm ..." Rogue sifted through a few cabinets looking for microwaveable pop corn- she found one package; it was light. "Doesn't look like we have a lot."

"Ok, so I'll pick up some pop corn at the Block Buster. How about some candy- or should we go with some ..." she laughed, "ice cream!"

"How about one of those cookie pie things ... I have a coupon."

"Where would I go to get that? For that matter, where's a Block Buster?"

"I can go with you into town and show you were it all is."

"Ok. I'll be heading out tomorrow around noon to get it all. The X-team won't be leaving until after dinner."

Conversation halted for a moment as Ange munched away on her pancakes. Iceman glanced up at her, and back to his bowl, something on his mind.

"So, I've been curious- how old are you? You're definitely not as old as some of the other x-men."

"I'm 23."

"Ya, you're as old as my older brother." Ange nodded.

"So why'd you come here? How'd you become a teacher so young?"

"Actually, I used to work at an after school day care. I went out to Washington, D.C. for college and got a job at the day care. I just wasn't doing as well as I hoped I would studying language. And about that time, I started to seriously consider WHAT I wanted to do. I have always loved children, and I've kept art as my hobby for several years. I took several art classes in both college and high school. So, when the Professor needed a baby sitter, and he knew about my passion for art, he asked me to come on as an art teacher and a baby sitter."

"How'd you meet the Professor?" They were all now sitting around, carefully listening. Rogue asked this last question, but it was Iceman who braved asking Ange her age.

"I had heard about the Professor's 'school for the gifted' a few years back- previous to my job at the day care. When I got the job, I noticed a few children- a few mutants. They tried to bottle up their powers, but sometimes it would just slip. These kids were always complaining to us that they were made fun of at school- some were even made fun at the day care. I contacted the Professor- not yet realizing that his school was specifically for mutants. I just figured they would fit in better at a place for children with special, extraordinary abilities. When I contacted him, he told all about his school. I then suggested his school to the children's parents. A few accepted my suggestion generously and moved their kids here- others refused to acknowledge that their kids were having a hard time in school or that they needed to go to a special school. Some parents thought that I was referring them to a "special" school, as in a place for retards or slow kids. One of the kids that did come here was Kitty.

"So you knew Shadowcat?"

"Yep. I first noticed she had powers when a bully had been picking on her and pushed her; she fell through the wall. No one else noticed, but the bully stayed away from her after that, though he continued to threaten and make fun of her from afar. Her parents were very grateful to have a place where she could excel. They almost gave me the impression that they already knew WHAT her "special" ability was. I never found that out for sure."

After talking a little bit longer, Ange went into the library to help Lizie on some of her math. Lizie needed help with quadratic equations. After the bit of math tutoring was over, Lizie wanted help on her still life.

"I can't figure out what is wrong."

"Hmmm. Here." Ange pulled out a scrap sheet of paper. "First, describe for me the vines."

"Ahhhh, they hang out of the pot and crawl across the table!"

"How do they hang? Straight down, or with a slight curve?"

"Oh, ok. But then look at the pot-"

"You have the pot curved at the top to show that it's round- so you need to curve the bottom of the pot too. Also look at proportions. The pot is almost as big as the table in your picture- but it is really much smaller. Something that might help is to draw your horizon line first."

Tommy rushed in at that moment to grab his sketch book. "Is it graded?"

"Yep, here ya go." While Lizie was working on her still life, Ange finished up on grading the rest of the sketch books.

….

Noon came fast on Saturday. They woke up to pancakes and eggs, hash browns, cereal, some sausage links, and toast. Ange missed eating with everyone else however. She slept in real late this morning. She turned off her alarm completely, allowing her to sleep in until 10:30. She then sleepily pulled herself out of bed and hopped into the shower to get ready for the day. For breakfast, she reheated some hash browns and poured herself the last bowl of the Reese's Puffs. A lot of the kids were outside playing capture the flag with Wolverine- he was slowly adjusting better. Though he would probably never admit it, afraid of being seen to have a soft side: the kids really helped give him hope that he could move on. She watched him from the TV room sliding door/window, the Saturday paper in her lap. It was something else to see Wolverine laugh like he did that morning, as some of the younger kids 'attacked' him before he could capture their flag. They guided him to their prison, kids hanging all over him. She sighed and moved her gaze back to the newspaper. Everyone was so different; she wondered if she would ever feel that she really fit in.

The news paper was blasted with more tsunami news, local sports news, a small fire that happened in Pennsylvania that fire fighters were having trouble putting out, and captured missionaries over in the Middle East. What caught her eye was a whole section of art shows and contests in the Life section. She tore out all of the contact information and stuffed it into her sketchbook. It would be nice to enter a show again, and it would be a great experience for the children to have their art work put into a show too.

After she finished reading the paper, she told Rogue it was time to go. Rogue grabbed a long sleeve jacket, though it was a beautiful day, one that didn't warrant a jacket, but she wanted to wear one of her shorter pairs of gloves. Ange slipped on her flip flops and pulled out the keys to the Viper and winked at Rogue on their way to the garage. Cyclops spun around when he heard the car start up. He raced to the front yard, but was too late was greeted by Ange waving her hand out of the window and clouds of dust.

They ran to the Block Buster and bought 10 packs of microwaveable pop corn and the Shining. They had lots of fun simply browsing through the aisles, looking at the new releases and films they had wanted to see when they first came to the theatres, but for one reason or another, never got around to it. Then they ran over to the mall. Ange was _ecstatic_ to know that a mall wasn't TOO far away from the house. It took a little while for them to prepare the two cookie pies- one for the younger kids and one for the older kids. Since it was going to take a little while for them to get them ready, Ange and Rogue decided to do a little shopping of their own. They mainly window shopped or browsed through, "ohhhhing" and "ahhhhing" over clothes, belts, gloves for Rogue, hats, sunglasses- Ange considered hers old and dorky- they weren't those "huge 80's dorky", but, she just didn't feel that they cut the mustard. Ange bought Rogue a pair of gloves that she really liked- they were maroon, silk, and had black beads and lace all the way up. She wasn't sure when she would have an opportunity to wear such fancy gloves, but Ange didn't mind getting them for her at all.

"Now we have an excuse to come back here some time and find you a dress to go with your gloves!" Ange teased as the clerk rang the gloves up.

"Oh, look at the time! It's just about time to pick up the cookies."

They then stopped at Pay Less- a "leaving the mall" sale. Ange got a pair of flip flops to replace her grungy, now grey-tan flip flops, and really nice pair of sandals. Not only did they take a while getting the cookie pies, but they got lost on their way out of the mall shopping center. They took a left at the first life and after they realized they went the wrong way, they decided they should have taken right- while the whole time they should have gone straight and at the next light taken a left. It took them a few trips around the block before they gave and went back to the mall parking lot. They pulled out the map, about the same time that Rogue found the directions that she had written down before they left; just in case she couldn't remember her way there or back.

They had left the house around 12:30 and returned by four. When they walked in the front the door, Iceman, Wolverine, and Cyclops were all waiting to give them a hard time.

"Have that much trouble finding a movie?" Iceman teased.

"Well it seems they had no trouble finding shoes and ... other things," Wolverine snapped. He didn't know what was in the other bag: Rogue's new gloves.

While Rogue pulled out her gloves to show Iceman and then Wolverine, Ange tried to explain that they had gotten lost, and that you simply couldn't step into a mall without shopping a little!

"Look what Miss Ange bought me!" Rogue pulled out the gloves.

"Oh wow. Those are beautiful Rogue." Iceman was sincerely impressed. Wolverine, non-directly felt smothered. The whole scary movie night and gloves- a part of him wanted to believe she was harmless- but the other part simply refused to let his guard down. He felt that she was trying to buy them over to her side. Maybe she was trying to soften them all up, so that when they had all finally let their guards down, she could pull out her malicious plan! Wolverine knew that he was letting his exaggeratory imagination get the best of him. But he was still wary; as he said before, it wasn't every day that _they_ signed up to live with mutants. He glanced over at Rogue and her delight and the beautiful gloves, and some how that helped him to temporarily put aside his suspicions.

"It's hard to enter a mall without getting side tracked by beautiful clothes ya know!" Ange winked at Cyclops and headed into the kitchen. She put the cookie pies on top of the fridge for later, and the bag of microwaveable pop corn on top of the pies. She quickly ran up to her room to drop off her shoes and returned to the TV room. Storm was in the kitchen making some Spaghetti, and when Rogue and Ange had arrived. Storm had been giving a small lesson to the guys on how to make garlic bread when they returned. For some reason, Nightcrawler simply couldn't understand the process. And the lesson wasn't so much a "hey, want to learn how to make garlic bread" as it was "I can't do this by myself- you are GOING to help me make dinner! You don't know how to make garlic bread! Must I walk you through everything?"

Cyclops stopped in front of Ange as he returned to the kitchen to continue his cooking lesson. Ange didn't understand at first, as he stood before her mute, with a slight smirk on his face. She grinned and reluctantly pulled the keys to the Viper out of her purse and slapped them into his open hand. Cyclops returned to the kitchen.

Nightcrawler joined Ange in the TV room- they were watching some of the kids play Monopoly while other kids were "jamming" to some music.

"So, do you go to mass on Sundays?"

"No. I haven't been able to find a Catholic Church near by. And besides that, I don't have a license."

"So then you pray?"

"I typically meditate on Sunday mornings, read over the scripture readings for the day, and then I go to play with the kids."

Ange nodded as she scanned the room, peered out the sliding glass door to the basketball court, and then into the kitchen. She was soooooo happy to be here- to be with children, to have art all around, to be in a place where all of her childhood dreams of magic and fantasy were somewhat realized. She loved ghost stories and scary movies. She loved to feel like one of them- one of the children. But she was neither a teen nor a mutant. She rubbed her forehead and sighed loudly.

"I think I'm going to go take a quick nap. Wake me up for dinner."

"Are you feeling all right?" Nightcrawler asked, his eyes narrowed and concerned.

"Ya, just a slight headache."

……

Before she could take her nap, she felt compelled to pick up her diary, and scribble some more.

" ... Saturday

sigh I feel so confused! Never in my life before have I stumbled onto such a combination of my dreams and passions! I love children and art, and I've always fantasized about being in the immediate presence with mutants- more over being one(though that hasn't come true- and won't.) Somehow though, I don't feel complete. I know, I know ... I'm trying to a fill a void too big for material things to quench. But God, I already believe in you- I love you, I trust you, I follow you- and you've blessed me with so much, so why do I feel so alone? So disconnected? ... it's got to be that cycle of depression. Nothing else can explain it. Maybe it's time that I go get tested- see if I have clinical depression. Hahaha, bet they'd find out that I'm bipolar too. Ohhh, haha, and all of those years that treated Michael like he couldn't handle himself without medicine and here I've done it my whole life. I wouldn't be surprised if I am bipolar.

Onnnnn another note: Rogue and I went to the mall today. We really went just to get a scary movie for tonight (The Shining), some pop corn, and a couple cookie pies for the kids- but you know how it is when you enter a mall! Oh, I got a pair of flip flops for eight bucks, and a pair of sandals for 12. And I bought Rogue this absolutely gorgeous pair of gloves! They're maroon, silk, with black lace and beads all the way of the arm and a slight slit at the elbow. And then we got lost coming back. But we had a lot of fun. And now, now I have a headache- so I'm going to take a quick nap before dinner. Later Ange.

..."

knock knock "Mmmmmmmm … ?"

"Ange- dinner is ready."

"Already? Mmmm, ok. I'll be down in a minute." She didn't budge- not even her eyes. She groaned and thought to herself about how she really could sleep through dinner and get up just before the X-team left. 'No, I need to get up now.'

She got up and brushed her hair. She was surprised to see that it was already dark outside. She didn't realize that she slept for so long. Getting up again after it was dark threw her off; gave her a weird form of the heebie jeebies and made her oddly hyper. She dragged herself down stairs and grabbed a hot plate and reserved a seat on the couch in the TV room. She then went to the fridge for some children's Tylenol.

"Liquid Tylenol?" Cyclops raised his eyebrows.

"I can't swallow pills." She shrugged, grabbed a spoon and glass of water and took 3 tablespoons. "I have a slight headache."

It was 8 when the X-men took off. Ange was already eating her seconds of Spaghetti and downing a mountain dew. Now her headache was gone, but she was having problems waking up. And the soda finally kicked in about a half an hour later when she was grabbing a flashlight and preparing to tell the younger ones a few ghost stories- they were already huddled around the couch, lights off, whispering and giggling, waiting patiently.


	11. Ghouls

"Have you ever heard the story Killer Fears?" Ange looked around the room, her eyes dark, and serious. She held a flash light under her chin.

"Noooo," the children replied hesitantly.

_"Two families used to go camping in the mountains together all the time. One family had four kids- three boys and one girl, and the other family had three kids- two girls and one boy. These seven children took off one day down a trail, over a small log bridge, into a slightly wooded part of the camp grounds- seemingly abandoned by campers. The day was cloudy and slightly chilly- it threatened to rain all afternoon. Thunder slowly began to rumble through the sky. The children stopped in a small cave to eat their lunches before heading back to their camps- but the rain came before they were finished with lunch. It was a pouring, blinding rain- one to chill you to the bone and one that pounded heavily against their backs. And slowly it began to hail. They quickly started on their way back, but couldn't cross the bridge. They searched for another way across when they noticed a mansion in a clearing not too far away- surely these people would take in some soaked children for a few hours- until the rain and hail lifted. _

_'Weeeeeelcome children! Come in, come in ...' " Ange squeaked her voice to imitate the lady who answered the door._

_"It was a little old lady and her butler that lived in the mansion. 'Oh I don't know when the storm is going to let up, but you all are welcome to stay for dinner and take some showers in the guest bedrooms we have.' The butler took the children up to their rooms where they could take a nap while they waited, or take a hot shower and let their clothes dry out a bit. The rain didn't let up at all- it continued to pour at the same pace. Dinner time quickly approached and Henry, the butler, went to each of the rooms to bring the children down for dinner. The children sat around a beautiful, long oak table- the old lady sitting at the head of the table._

_'So children, would you tell me your names and your greatest fears?'_

_'Why do you want to know that?'_

_'Oh I'm just curious- is it too much to ask, especially when I am feeding you and giving you some warm shelter for the night?' " _

Ange told about three scary stories- and a few of the other children decided to tell some scary stories too. It was a windy night, and all of the children jumped when they heard a tree outside brush up against the house.

"... the end."

"One more, one more!"

"No no. It's time for bed. Look, it's 9:30! The Professor told me to have you in bed by 9!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh." The kids groaned and headed off to their beds. There were only nine teenagers in the house- the youngest of which was 15. They had been waiting in the kitchen, giggling at the ghost stories that were "so lame." When the kids started to clear out, Rogue brought their cookie pie into the TV room and Colossus grabbed the movie. Ange moved and started making the pop corn and Havok helped speed up the process; placing his hands over several bags of pop corn at once, he let a small amount of heat radiate out, just enough to pop the pop corn. They poured the pop corn into a large Tupperware, made for a large cake. They all sat down on the couch, turned out the kitchen light, and began to watch The Shining.

….

ding-dong The door bell rang and a few of the girls jumped slightly. Ange put down her small bowl of pop corn.

"I'll get it- pause the movie real fast." Kitty hit the pause button and Ange got up to answer the door. The kids munched away at the pie and pop corn more now; you can often forget to eat your snacks when you get involved in watching a good movie. Ange opened the door and before she could see who it was, something, someone, fell forward on her. She caught this person and tried to pull him/her in the door- only then was she able to concentrate on WHO this was. But the person was heavy and Ange couldn't support his/her weight.

"Come here quick Colossus."

"What?" He took his time, grabbing a last handful of pop corn before coming to the door. He obviously hadn't caught the tone of emergency in her voice, or he might have hurried a bit more.

"Oh my gosh! Dr. Grey! What happened?"

"I don't know. As soon as I opened the door, she kinda just, well, fell on me. Here, let's take her to her room."

"We thought she was dead!" A few of the other teenagers heard some of the commotion and peeked their heads into the hallway. Whispers went around, and by the time they Jean to her room, all of the teens knew what had happened.

Ange didn't hear Colossus- she was busy starring at Dr. Grey's eyes. "This isn't good!"

. . . . Mean while . . . .

Storm, Cyclops, and the Professor dropped Wolverine and Nightcrawler off at the lab before they headed on to the location of the President- or the site of his believed captivity. They found an old abandoned warehouse with life size capsules inside- meant to cryogenically freeze humans; all were empty. Cob webs and dust decorated the building elegantly. Only a small amount of light was illuminating their path which came from a rather dull, dirty sky light. There was a hall that they could see at the other end of this massive, but cluttered room. As they headed for it, they saw a shadow- like that of a human- that began to crawl up the wall, as though this person was approaching them- yet still out of view.

" One, two, three- wait for she.

Ring ring ring- oh what trouble brings?

One fear became two tears.

what you'll hear is sincere.

No need to worry - no need to hurry.

One, two, three - here is she ..."

A voice echoed through the hall and through the building. The shadow was gone- and by the very end of this odd, and somewhat creepy riddle-rhyme, the Professor's phone rang.

"Professor! . . . Doctor. . . . -ey - . . . . she . . . . the door . . . not doing well- . . . . . unconscious. . . . She's . . . . . Professor? Are . . . there ..."

"Angelina! I can't hear you- you're breaking up ..."

"What's wrong?"

"I, I'm not sure that it's anything. There was so much static. I think one of the children may be sick, unconscious. She mentioned something about a doctor."

"I'll go back to the jet Professor and see if I can isolate her message."

"Good."

Once there was silence again, the same voice echoed out another riddle.

"Like a bird her spirit soars on.

Blazing colorfully in the new dawn.

Tears marked her end,

until no more tears were left to spend.

Her end marked her new beginning.

Bounding again, her world spinning.

Homeward bound, she lifted her eyes,

Rising again she took to the skies.

No more sorrow to be had.

Confusion first, then be glad.

All is well, all is good.

Her fate was simply misunderstood."

"Who are you?" The Professor tried to probe the mind of this one who continued to whisper echoing rhymes.

"Welcome to my humble abode.

Walk a little closer- come down the road.

Forever sentenced to see in riddles and talk in rhymes,

Being in two places all at one time.

I am the one known as Prophet."

Prophet came into view out of the dark hallway. He was tan, had black hair with white tips, a thin white line tattooed across his eyes- which were black, with an oily rainbow glimmer to them. He wore a simple, long, long navy blue silken vest, and worn khaki pants. As soon as he had come, he left. As he had mentioned, he could bilocate, see present events, anywhere in the world, and he could see near future events. They came to him randomly in visions, at which times his eyes would turn from a solid black (with the slight oily rainbow shine) to a glazed grey. He spoke slowly with a slight accent.

"Professor ..." Storm had the message "decoded." The whole team had ear pieces on, allowing them to communicate when they were apart, but in close range. "I have the message decoded. Come quick, I think we better leave." The Professor and Cyclops returned immediately to the jet.

"Listen:

'Professor! Ummm, Dr. Jean Grey - ah, she, she just walked through the door. But she's not doing well- she's mainly unconscious. She's all right- she'll be ok. ... Professor? Are you there ...'"

Cyclops sat down in his chair, eyes wide- as if the air had been knocked right out of him. They were all so shocked. Nothing was said by anyone. Storm just started the jet and headed for home. Thank God the Professor remembered about Wolverine and Nightcrawler; they could have easily forgotten about them.

"Wolverine, Nightcrawler- we're on our way to pick you up."

"What's the hurry?"

"You'll find out when we get there."

….

"Wow, sounds serious. I wonder if they found the President."

"I don't know and frankly I don't care. I'll be glad to be out of this creepy place." Wolverine looked around one last time before they exited the lab to meet the jet.

….

"So, what's the big news? What's up with him- looks like he just saw a ghost!" Wolverine was referring to Cyclops, who returned a deadly glare for Wolverine's comment.

"I believe the best way to tell you, is to allow you to listen."

Wolverine and Nightcrawler listened while Storm flew the jet back to the school.

….

Ange was pacing impatiently and nervously on the "X-level" where the lab, outfits, and Cerebro were located, and where the jet was docked. The basket ball court opened, and wind whirled in and around Ange, tangling her hair and forcing her to shut her eyes. She continued to wait impatiently until the court was closed and the gate was open to the jet. She combed out her hair with her hands as best as she could and turned quickly to the exiting X-Men. Cyclops went rushing past Ange, and Storm followed not far behind. The others walked at a pace faster than normal, but they didn't rush- how you could rush to welcome someone home who you weren't quite finished grieving!

"Cyclops- wait, please!" Ange called out, hoping to catch him before he got into the elevator. They had to chase after him, but they did catch him.

"Let's listen to what she has to say first," the Professor suggested, and reluctantly, they all complied.

"Tonight ... we," Ange stumbled, not sure how or what to say. Though she never knew Jean, she was just as shocked herself. "We were watching the movie- the door bell rang. When I opened door, Jean literally fell. I caught her- but I mean, I couldn't support her weight. Colossus took her to her- your- room. I, ahhh, I..." Cyclops waited no longer and they all rushed to the elevator, Ange followed. "Most of the children don't know- this is confusing for us adults and I didn't want to burden them with this just yet. It's a small school though, they will all know soon enough as it is." She spoke as they waited for the "blasted elevator" to hurry up. The "ding" of the elevator let them know that they had arrived at Jean's floor. They rushed to her door, but slowly and quietly opened it.

"Um, one other thing. One our way to bring her up here, and for few minutes while she lay there, well, her eyes were open even though she seemed to be unconscious- and they kept flickering back and forth between her natural brown and, and, fire, almost."

They all entered the room and starred at Jean who lay comfortably on their bed. Her breathing was normal and the Professor didn't seem alarmed about her health. They just watched her breath a few more moments, plenty of confusing questions and thoughts running through their minds.

Ever since Cyclops listened to Ange's message for the first time, he couldn't help but think back on what Prophet said. Even what he said before the phone ever rang; he knew. He remembered the last time he saw Jean, her last words to him. He wondered if she remembered him, and what she remembered at all. He wanted to know how she had survived and what had taken her so long to return. He hoped and prayed that she still loved him, that she recognized him.

Cyclops sat down by the bed and fell asleep holding Jean's hand. The rest of the X-men returned to the Professor's office to discuss the other events that had happened that night.

"What did you find Wolverine?"

"The lab was filled with pictures- mug shots and candid shots, of people- and files on them. Most were mutants. It was like they were stalking them. They had the oddest, weirdest, most insignificant details on some of them- down to their favorite ice cream flavor and favorite color- even the names of their pets. There were x-rays as well. We couldn't get a good look at the whole lab. But through a small window in the door, it would seem as though part of the building was a psychiatric ward."

"Mmmm. I couldn't sense anyone else in the warehouse. The Prophet's bilocation confused my senses a bit." He took a long pause. "Everyone get some rest. It's been a long day. We'll announce Dr. Grey's return in the morning. It has been a busy, confusing, and tiring day for us all."

Nightcrawler lowered his head reverently and made the sign of the cross. They all existed.

Wolverine sat out on the front porch smoking a cigar. Nightcrawler meditated on the backyard lawn, Storm went to her room, and Ange went to sleep.


	12. Surprise!

Sunday passed by uneventfully, with lots of whispers and careful steps in the hallways. Jean was still and quiet the whole day, not making the slightest movement other than breathing. Storm took Cyclops some food from time to time, but he refused to leave her side. Wolverine took off on a day trip on Cyclops motorcycle. He went through several cigars and stopped into a bar on his way home. He had spent the day simply driving around, stopping once and while at a ridge that overlooked some beautiful scenery. Wolverine returned home late, after everyone was asleep. Everyone was emotionally drained and tired.

….

For some reason, Ange's alarm wasn't set right and it went off around 7, instead of 6. And it just so happened that she was in the middle of a quite intense dream when it went off. The alarm startled her and she sat up quickly in bed; too quickly. She had been sleeping on the edge of the bed and fell out of bed eloquently when she sat up so fast. She rubbed her head, untangled herself from the sheets, and slipped into the shower.

Ange sat up and watched the early morning news while eating the last piece of the cookie pie from the night before; she was amazed that a slice survived! The news this morning was plastered with abductions of people of all ages. It made the front page of the newspapers as well. Even CNN was reporting it. The Professor now knew just about where all of these people were being held, but he didn't know why or by whom. But Wolverine's assumption was right: they had been stalking these people.

Cyclops stayed up stairs with Jean most of the day. When it was time for him to go to his training classes, he pleaded to stay and argued to stay by her side. The Professor wouldn't allow it.

"She's going to be all right Scott. Go and take your mind off of it for a little while. It's not good for you to stay cooped up in here. I'll watch her while you're gone." With much convincing and reassurance, Cyclops finally headed down for his classes.

Wolverine was somewhat distracted most of the day. He'd get side tracked and the kids would stare and giggle until someone asked Wolverine what they were going to play today. They whispered behind his back, giggling about him being preoccupied with lovely thoughts of Dr. Grey.

It was a gorgeous day! The sun was clearing shining, not a cloud in the sky. It was warm, but not too humid. Most of the children dressed in shorts and t-shirts, or tank tops and muscle shirts today, including Ange. She wore her favorite jean shorts and a new t-shirt that said "Kiss Me ... I'm Irish."

Ange cheerfully glided into the art room. Still lifes were due at the beginning of the hour. She looked outside. It was beautiful and warm, even enough to open her windows. She did, but it didn't give her the whole effect she wanted. She grinned widely- a mischievous thought reflecting in her eyes. Class wouldn't start for another 15 minutes- she had time. Ange took the easels out, one by one, to the back yard. She then carried out the paints, the paint brushes, cans of water, and a small table to hold the paper and other supplies. She placed a pencil on each easel and clipped a piece of paper to each as well. Now that was better. She looked around the art room, bored, waiting for the bell to ring and her class to come in. A refreshing breeze flowed in through the open window, tickling the tips of her hair. She remembered and tied her hair back into a messy bun.

Storm had plenty of questions to answer this morning, after announcing Dr. Grey's return. "Please settle down and be quiet. I have an important announcement to make."

"Is it about Dr. Grey?" One boy blurted out.

"Yes, it is." The class started whispering all over again.

"Class!" Storm raised her voice a bit. "Last night Dr. Grey returned not feeling well. She is going to be perfectly all right and the Professor is looking after her right now."

"What happened?"

"We're not entirely sure." And then whispering and gossip escalated! Rumors were flying around about fights, kidnappings, being hypnotized, coming back from the dead, ect.

"Please open your books to page 234." Few kids were listening. "Class! It is not the time nor the place for gossip! You know that none of these rumors are true. Give it up and let's get back to work."

…

Ange wandered outside during Wolverine's third hour gym class, just to watch. Wolverine decided to lighten up on the kids today, letting them play a game instead of going through loads of exercises or laps. And today's game was soccer- Ange's favorite sport, though she had never been very good and it had been ages since the last she had played!

"Come join us Miss Ange! You can be the other captain and then we can play boys vs. girls!" Wolverine raised his eye brows at Kitty. He was surprised that Kitty had invited Ange to play, and shocked that Kitty thought that the girls could take on the guys. Ange couldn't pass up an opportunity to play soccer! It had been ages- and guys vs. girls, she couldn't miss that either. Rogue was inside the library where she had a great view of the field that the school used for soccer, football, picnics, ect.

"Pass it here, pass it here!"

"Get her Wolverine! Get her!"

Ange passed the ball to Kitty, and slipped on the grass. She laughed as she fell to her butt and Kitty scored. She stood up and gave Kitty a high five.

"It's ok. We can give them a small head start," Wolverine barked, grinning, watching Ange and the other girls give each other high fives.

Ange was out of practice, and out of shape. She wasn't as fast as she used to be, however, she was able to get around defenders like she wasn't able to do before. Though there is a difference when those defenders who are your own age and size. The girls had a blast, but didn't win. Both the teams lined up and shook hands; "good game, good game, ..."

Ange walked with Kitty and Lizie inside, recounting some of the funny moments and the by-accident goals they scored. Ange stopped and watch Wolverine walk by. She grinned, slightly tuning out Mindy and Kitty; they didn't notice. The bell rang and Ange quickly headed back to the class room to route her fourth hour class outside. Rogue was in her fourth hour class, and spoke with her on their way outside.

"So, looked like you had fun out there."

"Hahaha, you were watching our game? Ya I had a blast."

"Ya, it looked it. Handsome men always make games better."

"Excuse me!" Ange blushed slightly. She lowered her head and refused to look at Rogue.

"I saw how you were looking at Wolverine, watching him, eyes wide and smile blazing."

"I don't believe this is something I should be discussing with you ..." Ange said. It was a little weird to be discussing another teacher in such a way with a student, but it was also a good excuse to end the subject. Now she just prayed that no one else saw it, and she really hoped Wolverine didn't notice. Ange picked up her pace and walked to the front of the line.

"It's such a nice day today that I figured it would be good to get some fresh air and sun. So today you can paint whatever you'd like; however, I would like it to be something outside right now. That can include people that are outside now as well."

Ange moved over to her easel where she had finished sketching her idea. She was now ready to start painting it. She decided to use water colors as her medium for her "Emotional War" piece. The kids spoke softly and joked, but no one was loud. Even the rowdy kids understood the peace of the day.

….

"Do you think you can carry her Cyclops?"

"Sure."

"Good. Let's take her to lab. I'd like to run a few scans, see if that can help us determine anything."

They moved Jean to the X-Lab. They ran a few scans and tests, but unfortunately found out very little.

"What do they mean," Cyclops asked in reference to the tests.

"Hmmmm. Not a lot. However, Jean is only asleep. Her energy levels are incredibly low. If we hook her up to an IV it will replenish some of her energy and she'll wake up sooner. Then she can eat and she'll be back on her feet in no time."

They sat together a few moments longer before the Professor decided to let Cyclops watch after Jean himself. Cyclops could handle whatever happened, and the Professor wasn't far away if he couldn't.

….

Ange looked over all of the paintings that were now sitting out to dry in the art room. School was over and the older guys were outside playing some football. Rogue was in the library working on her French homework. Ange went to the front door when she heard Storm pull up. She was going to help Storm with the groceries. On her last trip from the car to kitchen, the Professor stopped Ange for a moment.

"Would you mind taking something down to Scott? He hasn't eaten hardly anything all day."

"No problem. Let me just finish putting the groceries up and I'll do that. But as far as food goes, would he be all right with grilled cheese?"

"Scott and Wolverine will eat just about anything. I do know that Scott loves cheese."

"Well ok then!" It took Ange a few moments to put away the food and prepare two grilled cheese sandwiches. She took him a glass of water as well.

"Scott... Scott." He had been asleep. Hearing his name whispered, he opened his eyes wide and sat up, thinking that it was Jean who was calling him. "I brought you something to eat."

"Oh, thank you."

"No problem." She paused and he starred. "Is she getting any better?"

"We gave her an IV and that should help restore her strength. She's no longer unconscious; she's only asleep."

"That's good to hear. If it means anything, Nightcrawler and I are praying she recovers fully and soon." Cyclops wasn't a particularly religious man, but he certainly appreciated the jester.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

Ange went back up to help some of the kids with their homework, mainly math, english, and a little bit of science. Rogue saw her and told her how much fun their art class was that day.

"I love being in the outdoors. And especially on days like today!"

"Oh I know! That's why I thought it would be great to paint outside."

"I'm really excited about my painting. I haven't quite finished it yet. I was drawing a side view of Iceman with the trees in the background. I'm not very good at side views."

"It took me a lot of practice. They're still an area of weakness for me, but I'm just glad I practiced enough that at least it doesn't look TOO horrible." She laughed. "In highschool, our art teacher gave us this portrait assignment. We had to sketch the same person at 3/4 view, side view, front, and back view. I did horrible! It wasn't bad enough that my proportions for the front and back view weren't very good, but my 3/4 view looked like he had a lump under his eye. And my side view- the lips were bloated and the nose was too arched. My eyes looked too much like side ways tear drops. Oh, it was a mess! And, for me, it's also hard to draw guys with short hair. I'm not quite sure why, but oh, I messed the WHOLE thing up. It was quite a sight!"

…..

Ange ate her dinner out on the front porch by herself. It was so refreshing to watch the sun go down while eating garlic bread, watermelon, corn on the cob, and left over spaghetti. She wanted some down time, some alone time. She loved kids and couldn't manage living in solidarity, but she wanted some alone time on such a beautiful evening.

She set her plate and fork aside when she was done and pulled out her sketchbook and pencil. She leaned against the support beam and watched the sun set without lifting her pencil. She pulled her jacket tighter around herself as the sun sank out of sight. The crickets sang beautiful melodies and the children's chatting and giggling was a whole other music on its own. She sketched the clear, starry, crisp night; only a few clouds streamed through the sky. The tree tops hung over head and the stars spoke to her through their twinkling codes. She heard an owl off in the distance and somewhere near by was a bat. About 9, when it was finally becoming chilly enough that Ange thought about moving back inside, Wolverine came out for his regular cigar.

"Beautiful night ain't it."

"Absolutely."

Wolverine lit his cigar and the two remained in silence for a few moments longer. A cool breeze rolled through and Ange curled herself up tighter. She didn't want to seem rude, leaving so soon after Wolverine came out, but she was cold. "It's getting a little chilly."

Wolverine rolled his eyes and smiled. 'Women...' he thought to himself.

"Well good night."

"Ya..."


	13. C'est la vie!

Jean awoke from her slumber that night. Cyclops broke down and held her in his arms. All she could say was "Scott." She didn't remember anything past the water beginning to crash in on her. Thus, during the next few weeks, the Professor would be working with her, trying to help her unlock what happened. They would try a series of meditations and other exercises before the Professor would attempt reading her mind. Slowly, bits and pieces were revealed. And finally they knew- she was now the Phoenix, almost an entirely separate entity from Jean herself. This 'Phoenix' power seemed to have a mind of its own, though it would cooperate with Jean most of the time. It's a phenomenon much more complex and hard to explain or understand. However, Jean was still not her normal self yet. Using her powers now drained enormous amounts of energy from her and the coming and going of Phoenix made her noxious and dizzy. It would take several more weeks of vigorous training and meditation sessions with the Professor before Jean was nearly her old self again.

And over the course of these next several weeks, Ange's small crush slowly grew. One can become attracted to someone by looking at a picture for a mere few seconds. So with weeks, a small, healthy crush can form. He was strong, handsome, smart- though his anger often clouded his vision and he couldn't think clearly, but even then she found his temper attractive. She kept this crush in check, already and naturally fearing rejection. Though a few other factors helped to keep it in check as well, such as the fact that Wolverine still loved Jean, though he had given up hope- as all had; and the fact that he wasn't comfortable with her yet, didn't help either. His feelings had become quite neutral towards her in all ways, though there was still a tendency for distrust.

Ange's nickname began to change too. Wolverine continued to refer to her as Nanny, making more and more recent references to it, and starting to address her by it. Storm joked with him that he seemed to have become fond of the name, and he argued that it was a name that just fit. And the more frequent Wolverine used the name, the more and more the children became used it. Over time, they slowly called her Nanny as well. By the end of this two and half month time period, Ange was now completely Nanny, thought still formally called Angelina by the Professor.

Not all news was good however. Nightmare was becoming as unruly as ever. She refused to stop giving the other kids nightmares, and even gave Nanny a few when she continued to try to show her why you don't do those things.

"Nightmare, listen to me. You shouldn't use your powers like this. You should never use them to hurt others."

"Why not! They hurt me."

"Just because they disagree with you doesn't mean they're hurting you. You can't always get your way."

"You're just like all the rest! You're just a big meanie!"

"Nightmare you need to control your powers and stop using them like this!"

Nightmare went farther then to just give Nanny nightmares of her own, she "tattled" to Storm. Though the Professor and the X-Men understood what was going on, the Professor asked to speak to Nanny in his office.

"I understand Angelina that Nightmare has not been behaving, but in cases such as these, you need to let one of us handle it. You are right, but it doesn't have the same effect when you don't have powers of your own. The kids may start to think you're judging them, asking them to keep their powers locked up. That is taking your words out of context and exaggerating them, I know, but that is what children do."

Nanny left his office, angry, depressed, but understanding. She understood where the Professor was coming from, but she didn't agree with him. It really wasn't so much an issue of Nightmare's power. It would be the same thing if two non-mutant children were fighting and one hit the other because they didn't agree.

"But we're not talking about two non-mutant children," Storm argued. Just about all of the X-Men were in the kitchen at the moment. They had at first tried to cheer Nanny up, told her not to worry about it. But that was only an invitation for Nanny to let out how she felt about it all.

"But don't you see that it's a discipline problem, not really an issue over powers? Should I not be allowed to tell my students not use their powers in my classroom if they're using them to destroy the classroom, just because I don't have powers myself?" She spoke passionately and rapidly as she does when she gets angry and upset, defensive.

"But Nightmare isn't destroying a classroom. Where, as in that situation you just described, you, solely you, have to take care of the situation immediately. But with Nightmare, we're here to handle her."

"You're so hypocritical! You always bark about being discriminated by 'us,'" Nanny's tone grew. "But now we're the ones being discriminated by you!"

"Don't speak to us about discrimination! You can't even compare the two!" Wolverine shouted, slamming his fist on the table.

Nanny clenched her jaw shut, trying to hold back the tears. Everyone was quiet and they all looked at their shoes or stared into their plates. Wolverine huffed quietly. Nanny left before a river of tears flooded her face. She wanted to go outside and sit on the back porch- be alone in the nice outdoors on a nice clear night, but that left too much room for someone to come outside and "try to calm her down." She didn't want their sympathy or their anger. She was already mad herself enough. She went to her room as calmly as she could, trying not to let her lips quiver. She lay on her bed, and the tears slowly rolled down her cheeks and nose, one by one. She wanted to ball her eyes out, but someone would hear. Perhaps she had over reacted, but she did sincerely feel discriminated against. Maybe not to the degree that they had been, but it was the same still.

She hadn't gotten a lot of sleep lately, thanks to Nightmare, which only added to her irritability and depression- her readiness to cry. The kids in her class had started to get out of control again and the boys in her fourth hour class continued to talk back. She took it personally. Something simply personal, that had always been there, now added to all of her stress and depression as well: some mornings she woke up to face herself in the mirror, and all that stared back at her was an ugly face.

She tried to let go of the issue so that at least she could get some sleep, but her mind raced from one depressing issue to the next, and then started all over again. Her teary eyes finally fell asleep late in the night.

….

"I'm going to start taking points off if you don't clean up your messes. You might call me Nanny, but I'm not your mother and I won't clean up after you. And if you guys continue to leave my class a mess, we'll have to stop doing projects like coil pots and throwing pots on the wheel."

"Geez, what put her in such a bad mood?" Precise whispered.

"I guess the Professor and the others are mad at her. She was caught scolding Nightmare for using her powers. Wolverine yelled at her last night."

"I can't believe they're not firing her! I mean, this school is meant to be a place to get away from people like her!"

"The Professor believes in second chances and trying to learn to get along."

"Well, if we can't make them fire her, maybe we could make her leave."

"I dunno ..." Colossus was hesitant about this one. Pranks were one thing. What would they do when art was gone? This was the only class he had an A in, no matter how much he talked backed. She respected him as an artist, but he didn't care.

"Ah, come on. Just a few pranks, like we planned in the beginning. They won't be expecting it now, since she's been here for a while. Hahaha, she won't see it coming either."

The bell rang and the class raced to put away their stuff and grab their bags.

"We'll talk more at lunch."

"I dunno ..."

They hadn't cleaned their tools, or put them away, or cleaned off their tables when they left the room. Nanny hung her head and took down names of those who hadn't cleaned up. Quietly and slowly, a few tears escaping, she cleaned up after everyone. She sat down at her desk and laid her head down on her arms.

"I hated school then. What was I thinking? It's not like I get away from homework as a teacher. Though, I don't have to worry about grades... my own that is. God I'm so tired of grading projects that no one even does right any more! They never listen to the instructions; they do their projects totally wrong and then wonder why they didn't turn out right! And is it so much to ask for them clean up?" She let out a few soft sobs. "It is so much to ask for them to be nice to me?" When she had calmed down, she decided to nip the clean up problem in the butt. It was taking her long enough to move the projects around so that each class had enough space to put them, and then grading sketchbooks and finished projects. She called all of those who hadn't cleaned up into her room during lunch.

"You all have detention tomorrow morning at 6 until school starts. And unless you want another detention, I suggest you clean up after yourselves before you leave my class. You don't leave Storm's classroom a wreck, and you will no longer leave mine like one."

They left her class grumbling and whispering. Nanny sighed; she knew that the issue wasn't going to end here.

"That's it! I don't care if you join in or not Colossus, I'm getting her back for this! I'll make her leave the school. So, are you gonna help me or what?"

"Ya. Who does she think she is, giving me a detention like that?"

"So, what should we do?"

"It has to have a personal touch to it. I mean, it can't just affect her school work."

"Her sketchbook?"

"That's what I was thinking. Water ruins sketchbooks right?"

"Yep, sure will. What if we stacked some books really high, and then put her sketchbook on top. And on top of all of that, we put a bucket of water. She won't be able to get her sketchbook down without getting wet or ruining her sketchbook and the other books! Hahaha, then she'll have to clean it up herself."

They smiled and gave each other high fives.

"Now we need someone who can fly..." They shifted their eyes over to a table of younger boys and grinned mischievously.

Precise had often been seen as Pyro's twin, though not in looks. They had similar attitudes and anger issues. Both had hard home lives growing up and Precise had been beat up on his whole life. Now, with the further development of his powers, he found that he could also alter people's minds to change what they remembered. This came in handy in the way that if someone didn't like him, he could make them forget why. But it took time and lots of concentration, so not particularly handy in the combat. He often over reacted and influenced Colossus to so too.

…..

It was after school the next day when the boys decided to pull their prank. Nanny went to the store for some Tylenol and other medicines. They were running out and Jean's headaches continued. The Professor recognized this as a great opportunity for Nanny to get out, get some fresh air, be alone, and get her mind off of everything. She also grabbed some ice cream and chocolate that she would stash in her bathtub until it was all eaten up.

The bell had just rung when she was putting away the medicines. She headed for her classroom. Before Nanny had a lot of time to realize what that was stacked up on the table, stacked so high it nearly reached the ceiling, Lizie dashed out of the Library, late for the Professor's Physics class. She just barely nicked the table as she rushed by. The books wobbled a bit, and seemed to settle, but seconds later came crashing down. Water spilled all over the carpet, all over the books- which the boys had "borrowed" from the library-, and ruined her sketchbook. She didn't move from mere shock.

When most of the cleaning was done, she sat down at her desk at starred at the books drying under an open window. She had no more tears left to cry, or she would have soaked her sketchbook all over again.

She went to bed early, taking her dinner plate up to her room, her warped sketchbook under her arm. She sat in her bathtub and ate her dinner in her PJ shorts and a Scotland tank top. Again, there were no more tears to be had. She flipped through her sketchbook as she slowly ate. Sketches done in ink were smeared and the image was lost. All of her pencil drawings were now so light you could barely see what was there. And all of the empty pages were wrinkled and discolored. She sighed deeply when as she scanned past some of her favorite, most precious sketches and drawings. She put the sketchbook away and opened up her half melted ice cream.

….

She starred at herself in the mirror the next morning, trying to put her make up on as she whispered to herself. She whispered about how feeling so down over such petty small things was useless and, duh, petty. On the other hand, there wasn't much she could do about how she felt, no matter how petty; feelings are feelings. These two arguments began to eat away at her insides as she tried to paint over her sorrow with mascara, cover up, blush, eye shadow, and eye liner.

"Mmmm, what's for breakfast?"

"Oh hun I'm sorry! You slept in too late; it's all gone."

"Ah." 'What a beautiful addition to my already crappy morning.'

….

The fifth hour bell rang and Storm was busy collecting papers from the kids before they headed out for recess.

"Oh, don't forget to bring the recess equipment back in!"

"Are you going to play with us Wolverine? We're gonna play dodge ball."

"No, not this time. How bout later on kid?" He ruffled the boys hair and the boy ran off to catch up with his friends. Storm and Wolverine remained silent until all of the children were outside.

"How are you doing Wolverine?"

"Ugh, I'm, I'm doing ok. The whole Jean thing ... I still don't know how I feel about it all."

"It shocked us all, but it's good to know you're doing better."

"Mmmm." He paused and glanced out the window at the children playing dodge ball- it did look like a lot of fun. "How is she doing?" He nodded his head in the direction of the art room.

"She won't come out. I've peeked my head in a few times; she either stares out the window, or has her nose shoved in a book." Storm raised her eyebrows and continued. "I heard some of the kids talking about an accident with some water that ruined her sketchbook and a few of the library books."

"I heard about that too, but the version I heard was slightly different." Wolverine walked out of Storm's classroom, headed for the art room. He stood in the door way and scanned over the room. Nanny was sitting in her chair in the same way she curls up on the couch. She had a book in her hand, but she was starring out the window, completely distracted by her own thoughts. He noticed the books sitting under the window to dry- the covers warped and curled and the pages wavy and some smeared. Then he noticed her sketchbook in the trash can by her desk. He wandered over and picked it up, rummaging through the damaged pages. Nanny didn't notice Wolverine's presence, so he quietly replaced the sketchbook back in the trash can and left, shutting the door behind him. She heard the door shut and snapped out of her daze. She turned around carefully and saw no one.


	14. Taxi!

The X-Men ordered pizza for themselves after the children were in bed, and of course, Nanny was allowed to have some. She ate quietly, periodically laughing at one of their jokes. No one dared bring up Nightmare this time. Nanny headed up for bed early, even though she had been invited to join in on a harmless poker game. As the X-Men dealt the cards, they turned their discussion to Nanny.

"She has been pouting lately! I never thought she'd take it so hard."

"Ahhh. Figures. She's young, immature, and an art teacher. You can't expect much more from art teachers," Wolverine joked as he sat down.

"But seriously, who would have thought that something so small would have hit her so hard!"

"I think there's more to it than what we all see." Nightcrawler suggested. He wasn't going to play, but he would watch . . . sitting next to Storm. Wolverine rolled his eyes.

"Hey, what have you all heard about this water accident?" Cyclops posed the question as he anteed-up.

"Just that- that it was an accident. She had a cup of water or something and spilled it onto some books and her sketchbook that was sitting on a desk."

"Did you see the damage to the library books? It was no _cup_ of water."

"Well I heard some of the older boys talking about it. I've got a feeling it wasn't an accident."

"What are you saying Logan?"

"I've got some suspicions that it was a prank."

"Why wouldn't she tell us?"

"God only knows. That woman is the strangest, most puzzling creature I've ever met."

…

Nanny pulled out her diary and scribbled about some of the recent events before going to sleep.

"... Friday

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I last wrote! Where to start? Hmm, well, Nightmare has been giving the other children a lot of nightmares, and she refuses to stop. I tried disciplining her, but I only got in trouble and now, now Nightmare has been giving me nightmares too. But I'm not getting into how I got in "trouble." I've had enough with the topic.

Oh, it would seem that someone thought it would be funny to pull a prank on me. I think I know who it is. They stacked some books from the library almost to the ceiling, and put my sketchbook on top, with a huge bucket of water at the very top of it all. Of course there was no way for me to get any of it down without creating a mess. Kitty nicked the table, accidentally, and it all came crashing down. Library books-ruined by water; my sketchbook-ruined by water, and the carpet was soaked. I lost sketches I've had for years. Some really personal stuff. Sketches from other down times. You can barely see the lines now and sketches I had done in something other than pencil, are smeared. Besides that, the paper is warped and discolored. God I'm going to miss those sketches!"

A few tears rolled down her face.

"... I don't think I belong here anymore. Ha, anymore! I never really did. Oh but this is my dream! This is the closest thing to ever being a mutant myself! And I get to teach art, one of my biggest passions! I get to teach art to children ... I've always loved children, lol, though I have at times wanted to strangle a few. God I could strangle Nightmare right now! But, I can't hurt her! She's only five ... they all go through the stage she's in now.

I just want to die. Once you're dead, you can't get in trouble, you don't have to grade anything; there is no arguing . . . I just want to die.

This mood I've been in has made me think of my family more. I wish, I wish I hadn't dropped out of college, wasted their money. Huh, I wish I told my parents about loads of things- like what really happened in the 7th grade. God! How old am I now? And that was in the 7th grade! I need to get over it . . . though I still wish they could know the truth.

Look at me! Up in my room crying, pouting... no, I'm not pouting! I've been alone so much because, because . . . I don't know what to do or think! I can't even come to a consensus within myself! I don't know how to react around them anymore! I feel like I'm walking on egg shells. Or maybe I am pouting! Geez! I hate having pity parties! But am I not allowed to cry, to be sad! Is being alone having a pity party? Is being confused having a pity party! These are such small problems- why can't I just get over them? Grrr! I shouldn't feel so, depressed over such stupid things! I have too many blessings to feel depressed. Agh! Just shut up! Leave me alone . . .

I need a vacation. A permanent vacation. –sigh- There's only one reason for me to stay. Wolverine is the first guy in a long while that I've felt this way about. But, of course, I have no chance. He has warmed up a bit; he's not as rude as he was at first, but he still treats me like, like an employee, or a kid. I know I'm younger than him, but now by a lot. And –sigh- he still loves Jean. So I guess, I guess he's really not a reason to stay.

There's only one solution. ... I just wish I could fit in!

..."

She closed her tear dried eyes and fell asleep quickly.

_Nanny had always harbored deep, depressing feelings and thoughts. They would stay with her, even through the 'good times.' And though they were always there, they wouldn't bother her. This meant that what might seem like small events could unlock the flood gates to these emotions, bringing up old feelings and issues._

_She grew up, wanting for little. She attended a Catholic school her whole life. But something always seemed to be missing in her life. She always felt guilty for this- she had so much and yet something was missing. It wasn't a material lacking either- it was something that she could never put her finger on. And while she loved her family she also despised them to a degree. She had an imagination that her family couldn't appreciate. Her family was in constant division- her mom and her brother against herself and her dad, and her mom and dad could never agree or compromise on anything; the whole family was stubborn to a fault. Nanny was the most impartial member, though she tended to agree with her father more than anything. Yelling and screaming was normal. Her 13 year old brother would pitch fits and cry over little things and her mother would always baby him. Her mother favored her brother and everyone saw it: friends, family, even her brother admitted to it. You see, her brother was diagnosed with bipolar and ADHD in his kindergarten year. And their mother, having grown up with two brothers who were both as well, pitied him. Both of Nanny's parents let him get away with everything. His bipolarness and ADHD "controlled" him- he couldn't be held responsible for his actions. She was thus blamed for things he did or fights they had. It wasn't until Nanny entered high school that her parents realized that he was capable of controlling himself and that he needed to be held responsible for his actions._

_ She was an independent, stubborn child, so she didn't mind not getting as much attention, most of the time. But by the time she was in the 6th grade, it had become so much so that her parents had no idea about what was going on in her life. Like every class, especially in the middle school years, there was a popular group of girls who tormented most of the other girls. The leader of the group was on the cheerleading team, which Nanny had joined that year; she was picked on because she wasn't the most graceful cheerleader to walk the planet. Her best friend, who moved to a public school a few years earlier, had become one of those popular cheerleaders too and she picked on Nanny for her choice of clothes, music, hair style, ect. That same year, there was a new boy in their 6th grade class. He was a scrawny blonde haired, blue-eyed boy. He had a temper and cried often. Nanny recognized how much he resembled her brother, and took pity on him. It turned out that they had a lot in common: they both LOVED Egypt and enjoyed Star Trek. She could understand how he felt and was pretty sure that he had never been diagnosed as bipolar thus he didn't have any medication that might have helped. But what she saw as a friendship, he quickly saw as more. Another boy taunted her about their wedding night, explicitly. And then teasing continued into the 7th grade where it was no longer one boy who teased her. As the teasing increased, so did this boy's feelings for her. She was torn between trying to be his friend or reject him, in an attempt to halt the teasing. Neither worked. In the mist of all of this, her cat died. Maybe to some the loss off a pet is no great loss. And to those who cannot understand the loss of a pet being painful, to you I give my pity. Her cat was the only one who heard her cry. This cat was the only one who listened. This cat was the only who knew how she felt. _

_The 7th grade was a great time of exploring different friendships. Some of her other closest friends slowly moved away from her to other groups. She felt abandoned- by her cat, her best friend, her other friends, and her parents. She couldn't take the teasing and was utterly confused by the explicitness of the teasing; she was a sheltered Catholic School girl. She doodled spiraling black pits on the back of her book covers- placing herself in the center of them. She didn't know how to escape these feelings, these situations. Her thoughts came to concentrate on suicide. Mainly because she was too scared of knives and guns, suicide was only a constant thought and not an action. Her parents slowly began to notice there was change in her behavior and the closer friends came back to their original groups, including her more. She slowly crawled out of this spiraling black hole, but these feelings never healed themselves._

_In high school, on several occasions, the idea of suicide returned. But now she would have the means. She decided that jumping was the way for her to go, and if it wasn't for that fact that by her junior year in high school she had developed a great group of friends, her brains would have decorated the sidewalk just outside a tall building._

_Wolverine was a special pain. She had had few boyfriends growing up. Going to a Catholic high school, there were only so many guys to "choose" from. Most were rich and hot, and therefore taken by the younger rich and hot girls. This eliminated only a small percent however. But she wanted someone who was at least her height and older than her. That created a problem seeming as she was born 47 minutes after the cut off date, and should have been the oldest, theoretically, in her class. Most of the guys in her class were 6 months to a year younger than her. Or they were druggies and alcoholics. She didn't have anything against them, but she wasn't that type, and a relationship with them could have never worked out. She hated herself for the irony that occurred in that area: she always fell head over heals for the druggies._

_Wolverine was older, taller, and stronger! The only boyfriend she had in high school was taller, younger, and scrawny, besides wimpy. If he had ever gotten into any confrontation, she would have had to fight his fight for him. She couldn't stand a wimpy, weak guy. Wolverine was everything! He met her standards and had that "bad boy" appeal she had always been attracted to. But of course he wasn't interested in her. She only attracted the psycho killers or the wimpy guys. (The boy in the 7th grade was eventually kicked out of the school for threatening to kill everyone, except Nanny.)_

_When this whole ordeal with Nightmare came up, it just let all of her old feelings flood back. She woke up tired from the lack of sleep and utterly disturbed by the haunting dreams Nightmare gave her, only to stare at an ugly face in the mirror. She had come so close to having everything she wanted, yet it was still out of view. Like when you hang a carrot in front of a horse- they are close to getting it, yet so far away. That in itself can be enough to drive a person mad. The loss of her sketchbook was simply the straw that broke the camel's back. She had several sketches that explained how she felt so well, in a way that words couldn't. They were sketches that she would sometimes stare at when she was down, sketches that she never showed anyone else._

"No! No, you can't . . . NO, please. NOOOOOOOOOO!" Nanny sat up in bed, out of breath and sweating. Her body felt like jell-o and her eyelids felt like lead. The dream slowly left her and she couldn't remember any part of it. She got a glass of water and wrapped a blanket around her as she stared out her window. She couldn't go back to sleep; she'd only have another nightmare. She sighed heavily and turned to look around her room. She hung her head and got up.

…..

Nanny quietly opened the front door, careful to shut it so that no one would hear.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Oh, I didn't think anyone would still be up; it's really late." Wolverine was smoking his cigar just to the left of the front doors, leaning against the wall.

Wolverine checked his watch and then stomped out his cigar. "You mean it's really early." His breath was visible in the crisp early morning air.

Nanny didn't say anything. She only stood, holding her jacket tightly around herself, shivering and waiting.

"So you're just gonna leave like this? After one little thing?"

She closed her eyes. She was hoping he wouldn't say anything. "You wouldn't understand."

"Oh I wouldn't? I don't know what you expect us to understand. You came here, and now you're going to leave because life isn't perfect. We might be special freaks but we can't eliminate problems with our powers."

"I never thought that!"

"Then what did you think? Why did you ever come here?"

"I thought I might fit in here. I didn't fit anywhere else; there is _no _place for non-mutants who are sympathetic towards mutants."

"We don't need you're sympathy."

"I came here, obviously mistaken, that maybe I could fit in with those who don't seem to fit in anywhere else."

Wolverine silently leaned against the post and Nanny stepped down the front porch steps and stopped.

"Growing up, I waited and waited for the time to come- for the time when I would get my mutant powers. When I turned a teenager, I just figured they were late, maybe that meant they were more powerful. By the time I graduated high school, I gave up that false dream. Teaching here, teaching here was, is, the closest I'll ever get to that dream. I can never- will never be a mutant, huh, but being able to be around you . . . all . . . heh . . ."

"So that's it? You're just going to give up?"

Nanny laughed and turned to face him. He had no idea the irony in his statement.

"So where are you going?" Wolverine asked gruffly.

The taxi pulled up and Nanny opened the door. She shut it without responding and turned to watch Wolverine fade until he was out of sight. He went inside and cursed lightly under his breath.

Nanny had only her purse and her jacket with her. She had packed all of her other belongings into her suitcases and left them packed, under her bed. A note was left on her bedroom desk:

"_I'm sorry. I've only created problems. _

_Thank you for allowing me to stay here as long as I have._

_Forgive my short comings and my sudden absence._

_Nanny."_


	15. Duct Tape

It was a yellow cab that smelled heavily of cigarette smoke and several parts of the seats and door were repaired with duct tape.

"Where to miss?" The taxi driver asked in between chewing his gum.

"Great Leap National Park."

"Ah, gonna do some sight seein, huh? I don't blame ya. Being around that freak show would cause anyone to need a vacation." The driver referred to the school as the freak show, obviously.

"The whole world's a freak show," Nanny muttered.

"Ahhh, ya, suppose the rest of us aren't any better, eh? So, what'd you have to do with the place any how?"

"I was an art teacher."

"Oh ya? My sister in Brooklyn was an art teacher for a while, til' the mob started threating to hurt her family is she didn't stop shoving all this "equality crap" down their kids' throats. They killed her cat to let her know they were serious."

Nanny tried to listen as best as she could, but she wasn't really interested; she didn't want to be rude after all.

"So ah, why'd you leave?" The driver peeked into his rear view and noticed a fresh tear tip-toeing down her cheek. "Oh now, don't cry." He handed back a box of Kleenex. "I'm sorry, I won't talk about it anymore."

Their conversation ended there. Little bits of jazz played through the two hour trip to the park, and the cab driver took the liberty of serenading Nanny, much to her discomfort.

"That's ah, 150."

"Keep the change."

"Miss, are you sure?" Nanny didn't answer as she shut the door and walked away. She had handed him 200. He waited in his car, watching as she walked off towards the Gift Shop/Information Center/Cafeteria building.

"Nuts, all of em'." He quickly drove off before she had a chance to change her mind. Nanny had been stashing some money in a jar she kept under her bed for no particular occasion, but she had envisioned spending it slowly on movie nights and taking some of the kids to a mall, or even to the theaters instead of renting all of the time.

She sat down at a table and read over the small menu about four times before a waitress noticed her and came over.

"So what can I get ya hun?"

"Can I get some hot cocoa and hash browns?"

"Sure thing. Is that it for ya then?"

"Yep. Thank you."

"All right. I'll be back in a jiff." The waitress walked off and Nanny glanced out of the wall sized window. Just beyond the Information Center was a rickety bridge that lead to the look out point. It was a photographer's haven; from there you could see into the valley, and over the town just beyond the valley and further into the mountains. It was a beautiful place to sit and watch the sun set, or rise, which it was getting ready to do. Nanny drank her cocoa slowly and nibbled at her hash browns. When she was finally done eating an hour and a half later, she wandered over to the wood and rope bridge, only wide enough for two medium sized people to walk side by side. She stood in the center of the bridge and looked into the canyon below, watching the river glisten in the early morning light.

" . . . there's only one solution," she whispered, leaning on the rope railing. Her gaze was fixed on the river as her heart sank into her stomach. "I won't have to worry about fitting in, or screwing up. No more politics, no more papers . . . heh, I won't even have to worry about whether or not I'm being petty."

She quickly glanced around. It was still early enough that only a handful of visitors were around, and most were in the information center, reading brochures and listening to audio tours of the history of the canyon and valley. She carefully climbed over the railing, keeping her back tight against the railing and her arms holding on. Her heart raced as a few second thoughts tried to coax her out of it.

"No, not this time. It'll be better this way." Her heart pounded and she clenched her eyes shut as she finally leaned slightly forward and let go with both of her hands at the same time.

Her last thoughts and tears, as she began to fall, focused on the people she wished she didn't have to leave behind- her new found friend in the faith, Nightcrawler, and now the man that slowly begun to take up the majority of her thoughts; the handsome and strong, Wolverine.

She was free falling in the air for mere seconds when something caught a hold of her around her waist, jerking her to a sudden stop, though her body flailed in the wind. Her stomach lurched at the sudden stop. Her head spun and she was slowly pulled upwards and she closed her eyes from dizziness. Blood rushed through her ears making it hard to hear the muffled voices now surrounding her.

Meanwhile-

Wolverine didn't know what to do when she left. Was it a big enough deal to wake the Professor up so early? She was an adult and able to make her own decisions, thus Wolverine waited until everyone was up to inform them.

Wolverine was zoning off in his own little world, sipping at his coffee, now exhausted from getting up so early, getting very little sleep, when Jean and the others came down for breakfast.

"So what do we want for breakfast?" Jean asked, smiling.

"Hmmm, how about pancakes? I'm getting a little tired of eggs." Cyclops wrapped his arms around Jean and they kissed shortly and Cyclops raised his eye brows to Storm.

"Would you like to make breakfast?" Storm offered as she made her way over to the coffee pot.

Cyclops shook his head and smiled, moving out of the way of the cooking women.

"Is this fresh?" Storm inquired about the coffee, turning to the others and noticed Wolverine staring off blankly, a steamy cup of coffee in his hand.

"Guess so."

"Wolverine, you shouldn't be staying up so late. You really need you're rest."

"Mmmmm. Just can't sleep. Haven't had this much trouble sleeping in a while." He peered up from his coffee and caught Jean's eye.

"How many pancakes do you think I should set aside for Nanny?" Jean asked. Everyone knew that they wouldn't see her emerge for several hours. She slept in real late on the weekends.

"She normally eats 2 or 3."

"You won't need to save her any." Wolverine said as nonchalantly as possible.

"Oh?" Storm moved closer to the island and awaited Wolverine's explanation. Jean continued to get breakfast ready, still listening. Cyclops leaned in the door way.

"Nanny," Wolverine cleared his throat and continued, "left really early this morning."

They all stared in shock. The first words were Jean's. "Does the Professor know?"

"Did she say why?" Storm chimed in.

"Well I didn't tell him. She can take care of herself and I didn't think the issue was pressing enough to wake him up at three in the morning." He hadn't heard Storm's question.

Storm sat down and rested her head on her hand. Nightcrawler walked in sniffing the air and in his rob.

"Beautiful morning." He declared. He slowly noticed the gloomy faces and moved around to grab some toast. He smiled warmly at Storm, but she didn't notice.

"What are all of the glum faces for?"

"Kurt … Nanny left in the middle of the night."

"What do you mean, left?"

"Is it possible she's coming back? Did she take any suit cases with her?" Jean questioned optimistically.

"No. But from what she said before she left, I don't think she'll be back any time soon."

"You talked to before she left?"

"I was outside smoking my cigar when she tried to sneak out unnoticed. I asked where she was going, but she never responded."

Kurt's eyes lowered to the floor and he made the sign of the cross. Nanny and he had really become close friends. Their shared faith was a great link between them and they often enjoyed discussing and arguing over theology in the TV room late at night.

After a few moments, the Professor rolled into the kitchen. Somehow, the Professor already knew.

"I'll see if I can locate her using Cerebro. Storm, will you check her room to see if she left anything behind."

"We're pretty sure she left all of her luggage." Wolverine said, turning around to face the Professor.

"Oh really? Well perhaps she left a note." Storm nodded and headed up to the room.

"Cyclops, once I've located her, you and I will go and see if we can talk to her."

Jean started serving up the pancakes and Wolverine grabbed the syrup out of the fridge.

When Storm entered Nanny's room, the whole place looked empty, but clean. She noticed a suit case slightly peeking out from under the bed. Carefully lifting the sheet up so she could see, she saw both of Nanny's suit cases, packed full, just sitting under the bed, and beside it was an empty jar- the jar Nanny had been using to store money. The only other thing that remained in the room was the small sticky note attached to the window. Storm took the note down to the others.

"Hmmm. Well at least it's not a school day or we'd have to get someone to cover her art classes."

Wolverine laughed but quickly turned it into a cough, though he couldn't suppress his smile. He straightened up a bit and asked, "How hard can it be to replace an art teacher?" Don't take Wolverine wrong; it wasn't that he didn't appreciate art, he simply thought art was as simple as eating or sleeping.

…………

Nanny's eyes flickered open but she still couldn't focus. Her head felt like a million pounds that wanted to fly away and her stomach wanted to crawl out of her body. Her limbs ached immeasurably and she coughed from the thick, damp air. She quickly noticed a weak rotten egg stench that did not mix well the damp, moldy smell that already permeated the air. She forced herself to focus as she squinted around the dim cavern she found herself in. The stone floor she was lying on was cold and damp, she thought. It was so cold that it was hard to differentiate between simply cold and damp. Looking around she noticed that the walls were a light, jagged stone and there were prison bars blocking the only entry or exit to the small hole in the wall she had found herself in.

Beyond the bars was a man crouching on a small hill of rock only 20 feet away. He watched her intently; his wide eyes filled with a curiosity that sent the chills up and down her spin.

She couldn't figure out why she was here. She remembered letting go, and then, something grabbed her. She only faintly remembered being lifted up into, a helicopter, maybe? She remembered muffled voices, but no faces.

She put her hand to her stomach; she could still feel where it had grabbed her and her neck ached from a small form of whip lash. She heard something like a whip snap outside. She turned her head in time to see Toad's tongue recoil back into his mouth. She grimaced and turned her head back to prop it up against the wall.

"Dear God, please say that it wasn't his tongue that grabbed me!" She clenched her eyes shut for a moment and opened them to stare at the cavern wall.

"What do they want with me? … They should have just let me die! Who are they anyway? I'm of no use to anyone …" a single tear bounced off her checked and shattered to the ground.

Her eyes struggled to focus, and lulled by the faint sound of dripping water and this man's soft breathing, she feel asleep again.


	16. Home

"Why can't I find her?" The Professor exclaimed, taking Cerebro off. He checked for Nanny among the humans, and even among the mutants, just to be sure. He had spent several hours searching, and each time, he became even more concerned for her safety. He came up stairs during the children's lunch to meet with the X-Men, again, in his office.

They entered silently and sat down, and waited for a while until Nigthcrawler finally broke the silence.

"Have you found her," Nightcrawler asked earnestly.

"No. I couldn't find her among the humans, or the mutants." He looked at them, choosing his next words delicately, even though there was no delicate way to phrase it.

"This can only mean one of two things: either, she is dead …" he took a pause, "or she is somewhere that I cannot penetrate, like Magneto's lair."

"Which do you … suspect, Professor?" Jean asked.

"Looking at the signs, quite frankly I wouldn't put suicide past her. She left her suit cases packed, here. She wouldn't mention where she was going, and she considered herself a problem. And I don't think there is anyone who wanted her dead, thus I don't think murder is an option to consider." He paused. "And I don't know what Magneto would want with her … or what anyone else would want with her for that matter."

"Is it possible that Magneto would want her for information?" Wolverine asked, keeping his head lowered as he starred at his boots, sitting on the arm of Jean's chair. Cyclops stood on the other side of Jean.

"He could easily found out things about us without having to kidnap our art teacher. Besides, he knows plenty about us as it is. We saw that in the Stryker incident." The Professor shook his head. He started to say something, paused, and continued.

"However, I have this innate feeling that she's not dead." He sighed heavily from frustration and worry. "I'll continue to try to locate her."

The X-Men tried desperately to keep any of this recent news away from the children. The children had already been through a lot, with the recent arrival of Nanny, the supposed death of Jean, and her return home. The last thing they needed was unclear news about Nanny, and the possibility of her suicide.

They went about their day, and the next day, and the next, and the next, with as much hope as they could. They trusted the Professor and his "feelings" but it didn't help much to comfort them, to ease their anxieties, compared to the fate that could well be true. And as much as they tried to keep the subject quiet, the children asked question after question. They wouldn't answer questions about where she was, however, those weren't the only questions they asked. Students asked about their art projects; when were they going to be able to get them finish, when would they get them back, and their pots needed to be fired. The X-Men did their best to answer their questions and tried to keep the children's minds off of the subject, but it was hard because it was constantly on _their_ minds.

"Are you ok Nightmare?"

Nightmare rubbed her eyes and whimpered. A small tear fell to the ground. "I had a dream that Nanny was chased by an evil Centaur and chased into the mountains where a witch captured her and killed her. And it was all my fault!"

"Oh. Shhh, shhh. Hush now. Nanny is going to be all right. She's going to be all right."

"How come the Professor can't find her then?"

Storm stopped and looked at Nightmare solemnly. "We don't know." She said in a quiet voice. She put Nightmare back to bed and fell asleep sitting in the chair at Nightmare's desk, singing her an African lullaby.

A week later, the Professor finally had some news to report.

"I've found her. She's very weak and distraught. We need to get to her immediately. Cyclops, Jean, you're coming with me." Cyclops and Jean put aside what they were doing and headed for the jet. The others waited as patiently as they could, running over scenarios on their minds.

They found Nanny in a dark ally way in New York City. She was shivering and was continually coming and going in consciousness. She smelled of burnt hair and flesh, mold, and of the trash she had been laying in for who knows how many hours. Her hair was grimy, her face covered in soot, and she had cuts, bruises, and burns all over her body. She had a sweating fever and faint, dry cough. Her clothes were tattered and blackened. They carefully picked up her and were able to exit the ally unnoticed.

Back in the lab of the school, with all of the children in bed, the X-Men and Rogue gathered to hear more details about what happened.

Nanny lay on the sterol lab bed, limp. Jean had cleaned off as much soot as she could and had dressed her wounds. She was hooked up to IVs and various monitors. She was not in good condition at all, to state the obvious. Getting little sleep and little food while being in a damp, cold ally on top of garbage was enough to make anyone quite ill, without being half electrocuted as well, and emotionally shattered.

"She's not conscious yet." The Professor announced as the X-men poured into the room.

"What happened?" Rogue asked the question on everyone's mind.

"I'm not entirely sure. When she awakes, if she remembers, she can tell us." He looked up to Wolverine. "I'd rather not have to read her mind. However, what I do know is this: she has been put under tremendous amounts of stress and the cuts and burns would suggest massive electrocution."

They looked around at each, shocked speechless.

"Is she going to be ok?" Storm whispered.

"Yes, she will. But it could take a few days for her to come back to consciousness and be any where near a good enough condition to stay awake for more than a few hours at a time."

"Why was she … electrocuted?" Cyclops asked.

"I'm not entirely sure that she was electrocuted, but whatever it was had the same effect as electrocution. I have a few guesses about why, but I'd like to wait to hear what she has to say before I start making conjectures."

They all sat silent a few moments longer. Nanny's monitors beeped at a regular pace and the IV juices dropped slowly and steadily.

"Will you let us know when she starts comin' to?" Rogue asked.

"Of course." He nodded and the X-Men filed out slowly.

The X-Men took turns staying with Nanny at night. Nightcrawler offered first and Storm took the second watch. On the third day, as Jean was routinely cleaning the more severe of her wounds, Jean noticed Nanny's eyes flickering faster. The monitor reflected this. She had been in a minor coma, and now her brain activity was increasing.

'Professor, she's waking up,' Jean informed the Professor telepathically. The Professor quickly notified the others and together they rushed down. They encircled her bed. Nanny's upper lip twitched and her brows ruffled. As Nanny began to wake up, flashes of the bridge, the cavern, and other horrid images from the lair and her experiences there flooded back to her. The monitor began to beep faster as her heart rate increased.

"Professor?"

Tools lying on a metal tray began to vibrate slowly, but it quickened until you could hear it, and see it. Wolverine looked up at Jean, concerned, as his own body began to shake. Jean waited, readying herself to 'catch' any objects that might decide to take flight. A few levitated only a few inches above the tray. Nanny's eyes flung open and she gasped for air. The objects stopped shaking and fell to the tray again. All of the X-men looked at each other, and then to Jean. The Professor only nodded his headed, but didn't comment.

Nanny shielded her eyes from the bright lights with her arm. She noticed tubes hanging out of her arm and with her other arm, she struggled to sit. She coughed lightly and thoughts swirled through her head. How did she end up here, how had she gotten away from Magneto- and then she reflected what had happened her. Her left shoulder ached and she winced, grasping it lightly.

"Careful," Jean moved to help stabilize her. Nanny squinted some, blinking her eyes until she could clearly. She glanced around the room, her neck still sore.

"How did I end up here?" She scratched out.

"We found you curled up in a heap of trash in some ally way."

She yawned slightly and looked down at her lap, thinking. She looked up with a look of confusion.

"I don't remember that." She tried to laugh, but she only coughed. She tried to sit up some more. A pain shot up her back and she winced. She moved more slowly this time.

"What do you remember?"

Nanny stared at the Professor with knowing eyes and let them fall to her lap again. Wolverine looked up to Cyclops and across the room to Rogue. He was uneasy with the silence.

"I remember enough," Nanny finally said.

"We're glad to have you back Nanny!" Rogue exclaimed softly and moved to give her a hug. Nanny didn't reply. She wasn't sure that she wanted to be back. She hugged Rogue back, but Nanny's lack of a reply worried Rogue. Maybe she hadn't heard her? Rogue could only hope so.

"Mmmmm, my head hurts." Nanny groaned.

"I bet. You went through a lot."

Nanny scanned over her memories and nodded. "In fact, everything hurts," she added, and smiled. She didn't like their silence or their stern faces.

"Well, we'll let you get some more rest." They were ready to leave her in the shiny, sterol room to sleep, but she moved to the side of her bed slowly, legs hanging over. Cyclops moved to her side when he realized she was going to attempt to stand. Her legs almost gave out on her and blood rushed to her head. Her eyes went fuzzy and she grasped her head; she was dizzy.

"I'm not sleeping down here alone," She finally murmured.

"One of us would be glad to stay with you."

"No, I can't stand staying in this shiny room anymore. I want a nice hot bath to fall asleep in. I want my bed." She said the last part and sighed with relief. There is nothing better than sleeping in your own bed.

The Professor was slow to nod in approval. He wasn't sure she was ready enough, but Nanny wouldn't take a "no" for an answer. He asked Jean to keep mental tabs on her, every so often. She would still require a lot of sleep and new bandages twice a day.

Jean helped Nanny to the elevator. It would take Nanny a few minutes to get used to using her legs again; her legs that ached all over.

Nanny stepped carefully into her room and shut the room. She took one step, and then another, using her desk and walls to support her as went.

"Ow, ow, owwww," she had a hard time getting her clothes off without falling or stretching her bruised muscles too much. She lay in the tub and let it fill up with scorching hot water. And while she was taking a bath/nap, the Professor met with the X-Men again, to finish explaining a few more things.

"Professor, what was that?" Jean asked.

"Hmmm. When we found her, I had my suspicions that she had been kidnapped, and that was logical enough. It was the 'by whom' that I've been thinking about since. I believe Nanny was kidnapped by someone who was completely convinced that she was a mutant." He paused, allowing the X-Men to process it all. "The electrocution, or whatever it really was, was an attempt to create enough stress to release her powers within her."

"So, she is … then?"

The Professor nodded. "As you saw in the lab," answering Jean's question, "smaller surrounding objects shook, some even levitated. And even Wolverine began to shake slightly. Nanny has a power incredibly similar to Magneto's, but weaker, and slightly different. Her powers are directly related to her emotions. You all should be on guard for a few more days until she calms down and I have a chance to work her to meditate and help her control her emotions." The Professor laughed ironically at himself. "She's bipolar."

"How come you couldn't detect it Professor?"

"I had thought she might have been, but it was confusing trying to discern. If I had really wanted to know, I would have just used Cerebro. In some ways, now I wish I had. Maybe all of this could have been avoidable."

"Why don't you think her powers came out any earlier?"

"That will be something I will be trying to figure out over the next couple days. But whatever that reason is, I believe it's the same reason I wasn't able to positively identify her as a mutant."

……..

**Ok, I have some explaining to do. I recently saw the X-Men movies, and only caught an episode or two of the cartoon _years_ before that. I had, however, seen several episodes of Mutant X, a TV series. After a few episodes, I began to create a character in my mind for the Mutant X series and I gave her the powers of magnetism. So I know this really looks like I'm copying Magneto, or Polaris, but I swear, I didn't realize anyone had that power until I saw the movie. I ran over lots of alternative powers in my head, but this character was just perfect! It's really hard trying to create a totally different character for something when one character works out so well. And she is different from both Magneto and Polaris. **


	17. Solid Foods

Nanny fell asleep in the tub and woke up when to find the water cold and her neck sorer than ever, from having fallen asleep in funny position. She carefully stood up, all of her muscles stretching and aching. She wrapped a huge beach towel around her body and wrapped a smaller towel in her hair. She shuffled over to her bed slowly and fell asleep again.

All through her sleep images from the bridge and the cavern flashed through her mind and she mentally replayed the recent events. She slept for a few days, barely getting up to go to the bathroom or eat the soup and crackers that she found set out on her bed stand table every time she opened her eyes. The X-Men waited patiently for her to recover, though they were all incredibly curious as to what had transpired. The children whispered and stared every time Jean would take a new try into her room. But for the most part, discussion on the subject was rather small- it was like everyone was holding their breathe, waiting for her to recover, and then they could breathe again.

Jean knocked at Nanny's door softly, like every other time before, and entered her room to leave her some food. She opened the door slowly, hoping it wouldn't creak too much and wake her up. When she opened the door, she found the bed empty, but the bathroom light was on and Jean could hear the bathtub water running.

"Nanny?"

"Jean?"

"How are you doing?" Jean stood close to the door so that Nanny could hear her.

"I feel a lot better, but it still hurts to get up and move around."

"Would you like something other than soup today?"

"Hmmmm." Nanny closed her eyes and laid her head back against the tub. "Solid food sounds good. But you don't have to bring it up. I plan on coming down as soon as I'm out of my bath."

"Ok. It's good to know you're feeling better."

Nanny smiled. 'Much better,' she thought to herself. Carefully she got up and turned on her radio to the oldies station that she had become accustomed to and now loved. She hummed softly and mouthed the words. From time to time she would find herself singing, and laughing. She had listened to oldies since she was in the third grade, and she had a few memories attached to some of the songs.

Jean went back down and informed the other X-Men that she would be down somewhat shortly. They kept close by, either outside on the basketball court, in the TV room, or in the kitchen. The Professor watched Cyclops, Wolverine, Iceman, Colossus, and some of the others play a rough game of basketball. They had agreed to no powers, but they all broke that rule from time to time- except Wolverine. His claws would only make it harder to play.

…..

Nanny opened her door carefully and peered out, making sure no one was around. She wanted to leave her room and get the down the stairs without a whole fan fair coming after her, making sure that she wouldn't fall. And she took the stairs for exercise which would help her muscles heal faster. With each step down the stairs the pain in her legs grew and she did her best not to blurt out of pain. As she reached the last few steps, she let out a muffled "Ow!" Rogue heard her and looked up.

"Nanny! You look so much better!" Rogue exclaimed and gave her a big, but soft, hug.

"Hahahaha, I'd hope so! How long have I been sleeping anyways?"

"You've been in your room for three days!"

Nanny held her head, which was still a bit congested. "Mmmm, feels like it's been a million years." She smiled and together they walked through the halls into the kitchen. The Professor turned his head only slightly and smiled.

'_Good to see you up,'_ he told Nanny telepathically.

Nanny stopped for a second, trying to figure out where it had come from. She nodded her head slowly and whispered, "Could you not do that please. My head hurts enough without having to strain to think hard." She laughed and Rogue starred at her like she was insane. The Professor grinned.

The guys stopped their game for a moment, all bending over trying to catch their breathe. They looked up and saw the Professor's grin.

"Are we that interesting?"

"Some might think so," the Professor straightened out his grin for a moment, "but I find you quite dull."

Cyclops looked up with a mock-look of hurt on his face, clutching his heart.

"Come on. Someone is waiting for us in the TV room."

They put down the ball and grabbed the hose and washed off slightly before entering the house again. It was a warm day, fit for games of basketball, soccer, dodge ball, and races.

"Well look who decided to join us! I believe you've broken the world record for sleeping!"

Nanny smiled and looked at Wolverine, still a little wet from the hose, his towel resting over his shoulder. He moved away to get some water and Jean, Storm, and Nightcrawler joined them.

"Good to see you're doing better," Storm said.

"Trust me, it's good to be feeling better!"

"Some of us made wagers on when you'd wake up! Ole' wheels here won, but I think he cheated." Wolverine said, setting down his empty glass.

"I did not cheat. It was a simple, estimated guess."

Everyone laughed and Jean brought out cut up fruit.

"Oh Jean, that looks so good!" Nanny said. She helped herself to the plate, and no one else dared eat any, afraid that they would be taking food from a starving child if they did.

"Well at least your appetite has returned!"

Nanny only nodded; her mouth was full. Everyone grew silent, not sure what else to say, though they were all thinking the same thing, but were afraid to ask it: 'What happened?'

After a few moments Nanny picked up on this. She stopped shoving her face full of fruit and took a small sip of water, running over what she wanted to tell them, if anything. She felt like she was obligated to tell them something, but she really didn't want to tell them anything.

"I know you all want to know what happened."

"Man, you're getting to be just as good as Jean and the Professor," Wolverine teased. Nanny only faintly smiled.

"Where to start?"

"The beginning would be nice …" Iceman retorted.

"Well, I got in the taxi. We were headed for Great Leap National Park. I needed a vacation, at least a short one. Nature helps calm the thoughts so I decided to go there. Turns out that we had a flat tire. Didn't surprise me seeming as most of the car seemed to be held together with duct tape. He called the company towing services and apologized. He said that the trip would be free. It was so early in the morning that there was hardly anyone on the road. But someone pulled over to help. They pulled up behind us. The cab driver told them that the tow services were on their way. The tow services called again and the cab driver wondered off in front of us on his phone, leaving me with this old guy who had supposedly pulled over to help. He smiled and the next thing I knew my head hurt and I was falling. I don't remember anything, only small bits and pieces that don't make sense. But then I only slightly remember being in the ally way, but I don't know how I got there."

"What'd the old guy look like?"

"Ahh, old. I dunno. Greyish-white, kinda short hair. Some what tall. I didn't get a very good look at him before I blacked out."

"Sounds like a mug shot of Magneto."

The Professor nodded his head.

"First Rogue, then John, and now even our Nanny. Hahaha, does he need a good cook or something?" They all laughed.

"So that's why he let me go." She chuckled. "I never thought my horrible cooking skills would come in handy!"

"It's good to have ya back kid."

"Mmmm. It's good to finally be feeling better. But my head still feels like someone's pounding on it."

"It's that country music of yours." Cyclops said. "It's enough to give anyone a head ache."

Nanny smiled and stuck her tongue out at him. Again, he mocked being hurt and Jean starred up at him with that sick, love-bird expression.

"The kids are eager to get back to their art projects."

"Hahahaha, -cough- ow! Hurts to laugh."

"They want to get them done so that they can enter them in this art show you mentioned?"

"Ohhh. Well, it's too late for that art show. First of all, it was last week, I think. What's today's date anyway?"

"September 13."

"Mmmm, ya, it was the 8th. But besides that, you have to clear all of the art works you want to enter like a month before hand. But they're having another show in January. They can enter then."

They small talked for a bit, and they even seemed to buy her story. She knew that the Professor and Jean would know that she was lying, but she felt like she owed them some explanation, even a false one. She was embarrassed about all of what had happened.

"So, you up for another game?" Cyclops challenged Wolverine.

"I think I can manage to beat you some more."

"Beat me? I believe we won."

"Three eyes here can't count," he said, raising his eye brows.

"I want to watch this!" Nanny said. She moved out to the porch and curled up in a lawn chair, watching. Some of the last bits of summer sun shown down on them and Nanny soaked up as much as she could. She watched the game with great care, smiling and laughing, until she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore and she fell asleep.

It was quickly becoming dusk when their second game ended. They hosed themselves off and headed for the house.

"Hahaha, she's almost cute when she's asleep; all curled up in the chair, her mouth all open," Cyclops said trying to stop from laughing. He only referred to her being cute in the sense that a kitten or a small puppy is.

"Suppose this means one of us has to carry her up to her room then, eh?" Wolverine raised his eye brows and looked at the other guys for volunteers. No one else volunteered, so he carefully lifted Nanny out of her chair and carried her to her room.

"Geez, how much does she weigh? She's lighter than a sack of potatoes!" Wolverine laughed.

"She _is_ the founder of the American Stick Organization," Iceman laughed.

"No kidding!"

Wolverine stopped outside her door. He felt, awkward, going into her room, but he had to. He gently set her down and pulled some of the covers over her. Nanny's eyes flickered and she sighed deeply and grabbed the covers. Wolverine shut the door quietly and headed to back down stairs for some dinner.


	18. Silverware

"I'm surprised to see you up so early."

"Huh, oh, ya." Nanny kept her back to Rogue, seeming a bit preoccupied with something. "You can only sleep for so long. And it's hard to get a good night's sleep when you ache all over."

"Mmmm, I can understand that." Rogue was cleaning up a bit; putting away dishes, bowls, papers, wiping off the counters and Nanny, with her back still to Rogue, seemed to be fiddling with something. Rogue left the room for a minute and she stopped just before the door way on her way back in. Nanny was shaking her hand furiously. There was something stuck to it- she tried prying it off and shaking it off, but nothing was working.

"What ya got there kid?"

"Oh nothing," she almost shouted. She turned her head quickly to face Wolverine and tried to cover the spoon with her sweater sleeve. She tried to act normal, pretend nothing was going on, but when she opened the fridge door, it clinked against the handle.

"Nothing doesn't make that kind of a noise."

Rogue walked in again ready to split her sides with laughter, while Wolverine starred at Nanny like she had completely lost her marbles.

"It's my bracelet."

"You never have been very good at lying, and you still aren't."

'Except for yesterday when y'all bought my story,' Nanny whispered under her breath.

"Here, let me see your wrist."

"No really, it's ok."

"Let me see your wrist." Wolverine stood up and went to grab her wrist.

"No, I'm ok!" Nanny pulled her wrist away and Wolverine found that his feet seemed to be glued to the floor; he couldn't move. Nanny backed up a bit and Rogue left, giggling under her breathe. Nanny walked over to the sink, hoping that if she washed her wrist, the spoon might come off. Wolverine reluctantly sat down. It was obvious that Nanny had no idea about what was going on.

"So you feeling better?" Storm asked as she came in to get some coffee. The spoon fell into the sink and Nanny stared at it, confused.

"Nanny?"

"Huh? Oh, ya, sorry. I'm doing a lot better. Definitely not as sore as yesterday." She continued to stare at the spoon, and then she checked her wrist again.

"That's good. Say, is that your cereal?"

"Oh ya."

"Ya know, I get so tired of cleaning up after these kids!" Storm smiled slightly and poured sweetener into her coffee and a bit of half & half. She leaned against the counter and sipped carefully at her coffee. Nanny poured the milk into her bowl and pulled out a different spoon.

Several things continued throughout the day that had Nanny baffled. She found paperclips and staples would follow her hand across the table and some would stick to her hands. Sometimes the computer screens in the library would start changing colors- the image would stretch to one direction or the other. If she used her finger to follow a sentence on the screen, it would black out. When the last school bell startled Nanny and she jumped slightly, several drawers in the art room shot open; one came open so much that it fell to the floor. Good thing nothing was in that drawer. Nanny left the drawers open and went to get some liquid Tylenol from her bedroom.

…

'_Nanny, could I see you in my office please?' _

Nanny headed down the stairs and towards the Professor's office.

Rogue was outside with Wolverine, Cyclops, and Nightcrawler; they were teaching Nightcrawler how to play basketball. Rogue started laughing, a first quietly, and then it grew louder and louder.

"What's so funny?"

"Hahaha, she literally put you in your place! Hahahaha, and her wrist … Wolverine, do you know what was on her wrist?"

"Oh that. No. Do you know what was on her wrist?" He made a shot and Nightcrawler bamfed up and caught the ball before it could go through the basket. Cyclops tried to explain to him the rules once more while Rogue tried explaining what happened with Nanny.

"It was a spoon! She tried shaking it off, prying it off. Hahaha, I thought she was gonna try cutting it off too, but then you walked in."

Wolverine sighed. "She really has no idea then?"

"None! That's what the Professor is going to try to explain to her."

"She's in his office now?" Cyclops asked. He stopped his short lesson to listen. Rogue nodded and they left the basketball to roll off into the bushes.

…

"Nanny, you do remember what happened with Magneto, don't you? What really happened?"

She didn't answer.

"Do you know how you got out, away, and into the ally?"

"No, that's something I don't remember."

"Nanny, I don't know how else to tell you. You see, this is a very interesting case indeed. Nanny, you are a mutant."

"What? How! It's too late. I would have known by now." A small crowd had gathered outside the door. Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Rogue listened intently.

"I thought you might have been one, but I do have to admit that your powers late arrival was confusing. But, you do have them. And I believe control over them is directly related to emotion. How were you feeling- what were thoughts when you pulled that spoon out of the draw?"

"You think I did that? No. It had to be someone else. A prank, glue."

"Answer my question."

"Huh. I ah ….." 'This is ridiculous! There's no way.' Nanny thought back for a few moments. "I was thinking about what happened, and trying to remember a dream I had. Oh, and I had a bad head ache."

"Nanny, your powers are very similar to Magneto's. You can control metals that have magnetic fields and you can control magnetic fields themselves. That is why the spoon attached itself to you. Your thoughts were concentrated on recent stress factors when you pulled the spoon out. It's only because it stressed you more to find the spoon attached to you that it wouldn't come off."

"I don't understand. It can't be! HOW?"

"I will work with you. It's going to be all right." He chuckled softly.

"Well ya- I mean, it's just, huh." She took a long pause trying to gather her thoughts. "I don't understand! I don't understand."

"Calm down. Remember, it's your emotions that control it. It will take a while to get used to, but what you need to work on now is meditating, calming your thoughts and feelings. You might even find a few other items stuck to yourself for the next few weeks, until it's more under control. Remember, we're here for you."

"I know."

As soon as Nanny stood up and headed for the door, the others dispersed. She headed outside to the soccer field and tapped a soccer ball around for a little bit. She sat down and starred over the small lake yonder.

"Mmmm. Hahaha, I don't think my life has ever been this hectic. There's too much to think about!" She closed her eyes and cool breeze softly danced with the blades of grass and tugged at her hair. The sun caressed her face.

"It is good to be back."

…

That night Jean, Cyclops, Storm and herself were watching a Law & Order: SVU marathon. They had eaten their dinner out in the TV room, and during commercials, Nanny would stare, unnoticeably, at a piece of silverware. Sometimes it would wiggle, but it wouldn't levitate like she was trying to make it. No one else noticed because of the noise from the commercials.

'How come I make spoons attach themselves to me and drawers fly open when I'm not even trying and I can't even levitate a fork when I _am _trying!'

The fork spun slightly in the bowl and everyone just thought someone accidentally shook the table. Nanny decided to stop. She could accidentally end up making it fly across the room which was dangerous as it was now a fork, and not a spoon.

She headed up to her room after the marathon was over, barely able to keep her eyes open.

'_Nanny, we should start right away with your training.'_

'_Now!'_

'_No, tomorrow. How does 7 sound?'_

' … _mmm, just perfect …' she sneered._

'_Good. I'll see you then.'_

Nanny slammed her door shut and set her alarm clock, groaned, and fell into bed.

…..

"We'll work in the danger after you are more used to your powers and capabilities. For now, the out doors will do just fine. I've brought some spoons, since those seem to be your favorites." The Professor smiled. "Concentrate and levitate the spoon."

Nanny was sitting down and from the back it looked more like she was meditating. She stared at the spoon for minutes. It would twitch slightly and then sit still for several more minutes. She stopped, closed her eyes, and began thinking of everything she hated; if her powers were related to her emotions, maybe this would get it to work. As her mind scanned over events that had made her mad, and sad, ready to kill someone, each spoon began to lift itself slowly off the ground, gaining speed with each second.

"Nanny?" She didn't pay attention.

"Nanny, stop!"

Nanny opened her eyes and all of the spoons were flying out of control. She couldn't even get them to stop, to fall, to land. The Professor took over her mind, and landed the spoons carefully.

"What were you doing Nanny?"

"You said my powers are controlled by my emotions, so, I thought back on things that made me really angry."

The Professor sighed, closed his eyes, and put his hand to his head. "Nanny, if you were a person incapable of feelings, of emotions, you could still manipulate magnetic fields, magnets, and metals. Your emotions will only enhance your powers over them, but at the same time, make it harder and harder to control. Thus you will need to meditate to control these rash emotions. But I don't mean that you need to become cold hearted. You will simply need to learn to control the extreme emotions. Learn to navigate your powers even when you are angry. Your emotions will tend to only make your powers harder to control."

"So how do I get the spoon to move without getting mad at it, wanting to kill it?"

"It has to become a reaction like breathing, or blinking. Something that takes little thought. Calm yourself and take authority of your powers."

They practiced a few more hours until it was time for the Professor's physics class. She was able to levitate the spoon a quarter of an inch off the ground, and she was able to make it point north, but that's all she had accomplished.


	19. Wedding Bells

**Thank you so much to all you who have R&Red and thank you for being patient with my spelling mistakes! Thanks to 'Random Little People' for posting a very encouraging review! (lol, I take constructive criticisms to heart too, but you have to admit that some reviews are more encouraging to others.) I also want to thank Wen1 who seems to be my sole regular reader- or at least he reviews more regularly than the rest of you all, so thank you! Enjoy!**

……………….

Questions rolled through Nanny's mind for the rest of the day. She debated going and talking to the Professor about them, but decided she could ask the next morning easily enough.

"What's on your mind? I can see the smoke pouring out of your ears." The Professor chuckled softly in his scholarly way.

"Professor- what if, I mean … you said that Magneto had the same powers, and I was thinking that maybe, his machines, thinking that they put them there. Maybe they're not really _my _powers. I feel like an imposter …" she whispered the last part to herself.

"No, they are your powers. I thought I felt it before, before you met Magneto, but I was going to let time be the bearer of that news. And what are these machines that you speak of?"

The images flashed back in her mind, and her cheek twitched ever so slightly. The Professor gazed at her serious, trying to read the images in her thoughts.

"Professor, please don't tell anyone."

"Nanny look at me. Those machines didn't put anything into you. In actuality, the stress that those machines caused made your powers surface. These powers are very much your own! Several mutants must under go stress to bring out their powers, but this is the most extreme case I've seen."

Nanny finally sat down and she closed her eyes, ready to sort everything out, ready to let go and accept her powers. She heard a slight rustle in the dirt and when she looked up, the Professor was gone. Sorting out her feelings and letting go was quite possibly the greatest "training" she could get. He left her be that morning, and her nerves did calm.

Nanny wandered through the art room for the first time since she had been back. The books looked so much better; someone had tried ironing out the pages. That worked, but only to a degree. Sitting on her desk was a small note and a doodle to go along with it.

"_I'm sorry Nanny, for the mess, and for ruining your sketch book._

_Sincerely,_

_Colossus"_

The doodle was of Nanny staring out the art room window, her ruined sketch book in her lap and the words "I'm sorry" written softly in a gust of wind that came through the window she was gazing out of.

Nanny smiled and put the doodle into a folder she kept in her desk. She cleared off all of the papers she had left behind, finished grading projects, and started firing some of the pots. When it was all said and done, she went to the back porch, bare footed and in her favorite pair of jean shorts and sipped at some ice tea.

"Looks like we're loosing the last bits of summer." Wolverine shut the sliding glass door quietly behind him and sat down next to Nanny.

"Yep. But this can be the best few weeks of the year; warm, the most beautiful sun sets, yet, a slight chilly breeze. It's nice."

"You seem better. And I don't just mean physically."

Nanny sighed and nodded her head. "Ya. I've worked through a lot of things these past few days."

"Gonna tell me about them?"

"I already told you part of it, when I told everyone."

"We all understand that whatever it was, it was scarring, but we also know that you made that story up."

"Oh."

"I don't mean to put a hole in your good mood."

"No, I don't mind. And, if I ever find myself wanting to tell someone, needing to, I'll let you know. I've worked through them, but I'm still not ready to share."

They sat there together a few more moments, both staring off into the distance, past the distance, into their own thoughts. They heard the kids starting to come down for dinner. Wolverine got up and went back in. Nanny followed a moment later.

….

"You're up late."

"Mmmm, couldn't sleep. I've had problems since I've been back. First it was that I couldn't get comfortable I was so sore."

"Bad dreams?"

"I'd assume. I don't remember them, or even feelings about them. I just wake up restless."

"I could take a-"

"Thanks Jean but …" Jean nodded. She understood that Nanny still had things she didn't want to share.

"Want some coffee?"

"No that's ok. Never really acquired a taste for it." Nanny grabbed some yogurt out of the fridge. "So why are you up?"

Jean huffed under breathe and grinned. "Scott mentioned our wedding again. We haven't been working on the plans lately because of everything that's gone on. I haven't been able to get it off my mind since he mentioned it this morning."

"Oohhhh Jean!" Nanny scrunched up her nose and practically squealed! "Oh it's so exciting! If you need _any _help, with _anything_, please let me know!"

"Hahaha, I will."

"So do you know where you're going to have the wedding?"

"Well, Scott's parents past away when he was a child, so we're looking more somewhere closer to my home. But I haven't talked to my dad in a really long time. Things haven't been so good between us. I'm going to call him, smooth things out, and then maybe we could have the wedding there. I want my dad to walk me down the aisle, no matter where the wedding is. But, I thought maybe Scott would want to have the wedding in his own home town since his parents can't be there for it. And all of that is great, but now I'm wanting a smaller wedding." Jean sighed and sat down. "I remember planning out my wedding when I was five. I was going to wear this big, fluffy, lacy, bright pink dress, with loads of sparkles. Hahaha, I was going to have ponies there and magical fairies. Oh, and I was going to be a Princess and my groom was going to be a Prince in shining silver armor. There would be lots of people and presents, and food."

"I don't think I'll ever get married." Storm announced as she walked in.

"Oh, you don't see wedding bells in your future?"

"What about Kurt?"

"-sigh- I love him. He's so sweet. It's just, we have a lot of differences."

"What about you?" Jean asked turning to Nanny.

"What about me? Wedding bells you mean? I certainly hope I see wedding bells in my future."

"Any guy in particular?"

"Not really."

"Not Wolverine then?"

"What!"

"Then you don't like him? We all thought-"

"Everyone knows? I didn't think I was being obvious about it."

"So then you _do _like Wolverine."

"Well ya."

"Why don't you see yourself marrying him?"

"I like him, but nothing is ever going to happen."

"I wouldn't say that. Have you noticed how he jokes around more when you're around and he talks to you more?"

"Ya I noticed. –sigh- but I don't want to get my hopes up."

"Ohhh it's so nice! We all have guys! How I would have killed to say that back in high school!"

"Speak for yourselves, Jean. I only have a middle school crush."

Jean laughed. "What you have is certainly beyond a middle school crush."

"Well, _back_ to Jean's wedding," Nanny announced, pulling the ice cream out of the fridge and rolling her eyes. Storm grabbed the fudge and other toppings and Jean got out the bowls and spoons.

After a few more hours of discussing dresses, honey moons vacation spots, hair styles, bride's maid's dresses, color schemes, music, food, and everything else you can think of, Jean headed up to bed. Storm had fallen asleep on the couch not too long ago. Nanny stayed up in the library, where she was sure no one would go wandering so early in the morning, and practiced her levitation. She levitated a spoon, and then two at once. The more and more she practiced, she realized that she could even bend the spoons. Carefully, after falling several times, Nanny was able to tie a knot in the spoon! She was so excited she rushed into the art room and practiced opening drawers and doors knobs. The sun was rising when the Professor found Nanny asleep in front of the open drawers in the art room, the knotted spoon still hovering about two inches off the floor.

'_Nanny wake up.'_

"Profesor?"

"Good morning. Looks like you were busy last night."

"Huh, oh ya! Look, Professor! I tied a knot in the spoon!"

"I see."

"It took me a long time!"

"Hahaha, I bet. Your dedication has paid off. Now I think we can start some harder training sessions. But continue practicing with spoons, door knobs, and drawers in your spare time. However, I suggest you go get some more sleep."


	20. The Bachelor Party

"You sure have been locked up in here quite a bit lately," Storm said as she leaned against the door way into the art room.

"Ya, I've been on the phone with a few of the galleries not too far away trying to see when I can enter some of the children's art into some shows. Some try to politely tell me that the shows are only for people with 'redeeming talent'. –sigh- But there is this one that I think we can get into. But it's going to require a lot of paper work. Oh but Storm, listen to this! It's a really great show: '_Art will be featured in the west wing of the Shakespearean Hall. There will be a dinner auction and live music._'"

"Sounds really nice; sounds very prestigious."

"Yes, but the auction is a charity event, so they'll probably accept children's art into the show. PLUS, they say that the attire for such an event is to be the same as if you were going to the Grammies. Ok, well, they don't quite word it like that. But that means that I can get all dressed up!"

Storm chuckled. "Wasn't much of one getting all dressed up like that."

"Oh I love it!"

"Nanny?"

"Oh sorry Professor. I'll be down in a minute."

"How's your training coming along?" Storm asked turning her attention back to Nanny.

"Great! Look!" She pulled her desk draw open and the knotted spoon floated out and right in front of Storm.

"You tied a _knot _in it!"

"Yep. Worked on it all last night."

"Wow Nanny. Looks like you're moving along fast."

"Not really. It took a LOT of concentration to do that. It hurt my head! Hahaha, but I finally got it."

"-sigh- Well, I better be going. Recess ends in a few minutes." Storm looked at her watch and gave Nanny a slight wave as she left.

"All right." Nanny quickly left for her training with the Professor.

…

"Have you thought any more about where you want the wedding to be?"

"Ya, I have Scott. I called my dad this morning; got his answering machine. But Scott, I mean, as long as my dad and I settle things, he'll come to our wedding no matter where it is. I was wondering if you would want it in your own home town."

"Mmmm." Scott looked down at his shoes. Jean turned to face him more, which bounced the bed slightly. "No Jean, let's have it where your parents are."

"Are you sure?"

"Well first of all Jean, we can't expect everyone to fly back to Alaska. And it's the beginning of fall; do you really want to be wearing a fur wedding dress."

"Well I was thinking it would only have to be immediate family. Like say my dad, mom, your brother, a priest, and the two of us?" Jean looked at Scott questioning. "And I don't think I would mind a fur dress. But Scott, if you don't want to go back, we won't."

"What about here, in West Chester?"

"Really? Oh Scott, I'd love that."

"Good, it's settled!"

"Storm, Nanny, and I are going to look at dresses this weekend. Oh Scott, I'm so excited!" Scott held her for a moment and they kissed. After the kiss, Scott sat on the edge of the bed, holding Jean, who was leaning against his chest.

"Do you have any idea who you want to be the best man?"

"I'd like to ask Alex. Only right thing to do." He chuckled to himself about the idea of Wolverine being the best man. They were now friends; they had finally settled their differences, but they still bantered back and forth, just to keep face. "But, I haven't heard from him in years and I don't think he'd come even if I could find him to ask him. So, I think I'll ask the Professor." He paused and looked up at Jean, grinning. "So, who's going to be your maid of honor?"

"Well of course Storm is my maid of honor. Nanny will be another bride's maid, and I was thinking about asking Rogue is she wanted to be one too. If you brother does accept, we should see if Kelly wants to be the flower girl."

"Kelly would make a good flower girl. Wow, I bet she's got to be getting big! I haven't seen her in years either."

"Ok, so we have best man, maid of honor, bride's maids, maybe a flower girl, and we're even working on the dress. Nanny said she was willing to help so I'll see what she can find here as far as a place to have the wedding, and I'll ask the Professor if we can have the reception here."

Cyclops smiled.

"What?"

"Seems like you have everything planned out."

"Oh no! There's flower arrangements, the bride's maid's gowns, food, music…"

"Ok, hahaha, I get the idea. But there is one thing you haven't mentioned."

"Oh?"

"The honeymoon."

Jean smiled and tucked herself closer to Cyclops.

"What do you think about a quiet tour of Holland?"

Jean smiled and lifted her head to look into Scott's eyes questioningly. She lowered her head again and quietly thought about it. Holland was a bit of an unusual place for a honeymoon, but certainly beautiful, and quiet. They would be able to stay in bed and breakfasts and travel without a lot of other tourists around. It was a quaint, picturesque idea.

"I like it." She said softly.

…

"Hey four eyes," Wolverine called. Cyclops had wandered outside during Wolverine's last gym class. He seemed happy enough, but certainly pre-occupied. "What's gotten into you?"

"Oh, nothing. We're just finalizing the wedding details."

"You know, you're never going to get a proper bachelor party out of this place." Wolverine sighed and looked around, and then back to Cyclops. "So, we're going out tonight."

"No Wolverine. I don't want to go to a-"

"Chill out, laser eyes. I'm talking about a bar. You and I, a few drinks, some darts. Maybe some pool? You brag enough about pool; it'd give you a chance to live up to the self appointed reputation."

"Ya ok. But promise me it's a normal bar."

Wolverine rolled his eyes and punched Cyclops in the arm lightly. Cyclops punched back and they both smiled. They had become a lot like brothers, which was nice for Cyclops, since his brother had become a radical and he hadn't seen him in years.

"We'll leave just before dinner, k?"

Cyclops nodded and picked up a basketball that rolled across the grass. He dribbled it a few times and started towards the basket. Wolverine had been wiping himself off from his previous gym class when he threw down the towel and darted in and stole the ball from Cyclops.

"Oh, you want a challenge, sis kabobs?" Cyclops referred to Wolverine's claws as sis kabobs frequently.

They played their basketball game until dinner time. They took some quick showers and darted out the door before the women could catch a hold of them and force them to help with dinner. Nightcrawler and Storm sat out on the back porch and ate dinner together and Jean and Nanny sat inside eating a little of the left-overs and plenty of pie that Nanny had made earlier that day.

"Mmmm, this is good Nanny."

"Thanks. It was my dad's favorite kind of pie. I like it, but quite personally, I'm not big into pies, or cake for that matter."

"Uggh, cake. –sigh- Scott and I have to go taste testing soon."

"So have you figured out any other details?"

"Only a few more." Jean smiled. "First we decided to have it here, somewhere in West Chester, depending on what we can find. And I want you to be a bride's maid."

"Oh I'd be honored!"

Jean felt funny asking Nanny to look around for places to have the wedding, but she had offered to help in any way. "Nanny, you said you'd help …"

"I sure will! What do you want me to do?"

"Could you look around and see what kind of places are available for the wedding?"

"Sure! But I'll need to know a few details, of what you're looking for."

"We can talk about that later though. It's starting to give me a headache."

"Well ok. But we're still going dress shopping tomorrow, aren't we?"

"Yes! I am looking forward to that."

"Good. Good. Oh I'm so excited!"

…

"Well well, you're not so bad at darts after all." Wolverine smirked.

"And you're not so bad at pool."

They sat in silence for a few moments and then Scott spoke.

"I already feel like we're married. We already live together and everything. But somehow, actually tying the knot is frightening."

Wolverine chuckled. "You don't want to lose your 'freedom'. It's understandable. Even though you'd never cheat on Jean, you still technically have your freedom before you get married."

They chatted away, drank away, played pool and darts, for several hours. They talked about every subject under the sun, and then some.

…

"You know Jean, I never thanked you all before, you know, for coming to get me out of the ally and everything, or for watching over me and taking care of me, but I really do appreciate it. So ah, thanks."

"Don't even mention it! It's what friends do."

"I know, but I'm still thankful. –sigh- I need to thank everyone else too."

Jean nodded. She looked at her watch and peered into the TV room as she put the dishes away. "Want to see what's on TV?"

"Sure."


	21. Long Lost Relatives

Jean and Nanny sat up watching a documentary on the life of the Pope, a memorial to him because of his recent death.

"Hey Jean, are you going to have a priest, or a minister, or ...?"

"A priest."

Nanny nodded. As the documentary ended and they turned off the TV, the door bell rang.

"I wonder if the guys are playing some kind of a prank."

"Maybe it's some early trick-or-treaters," Nanny joked.

"Hello, how can I help you?" Jean asked as she opened the door to face a short, somewhat stout, older man. His hands were shaking slightly as he clung tightly to an old fisherman's hat.

"I am looking for a Scott Summers. I've been traveling all day to find him."

"I'm afraid he's not here. Can I give him a message?"

"Oh." He stopped, looked back at his car and replied shortly, "No. I really need to talk to him." There was a since of urgent sorrow and sincerity in his eyes. After a few moments as the guy seemed to be thinking about what he should do now, Jean looked over at Nanny.

"They shouldn't be much longer if you'd like to come in and wait," Nanny chimed in.

"Oh, thank you, thank you."

"What's your business with Scott," Nanny asked curiously. "If it's all right to ask."

"No no, it's a fine question, but I'd like to wait for Scott before I answer that."

"The TV room is this way. Can I get you anything: coffee, tea, water, soda?" Jean offered.

"Hot tea sounds nice."

Jean motioned for Nanny to follow her into the kitchen.

"Will you go and inform the Professor of our visitor while I wait with him?"

"Sure. But I bet he already knows." Jean smiled and Nanny headed off towards Cerebro.

…

"Professor …?"

"Yes Nanny, what is it?"

"We have a visitor."

"Oh really? Who is it?"

"Don't know, he wouldn't say. He's looking for Scott. That's all we know."

"Well I'll be up in a minute or two. It isn't urgent, is it?"

"No, doesn't seem to be."

…

Nanny met with Jean again in the kitchen, this time Storm was talking the man and Nightcrawler snuck in through the front door and headed off to his room to keep from alarming their guest.

"He seems harmless Nanny, but he makes me uneasy. I can't get any mental readings on him. After I noticed that, I tried to read a few of his thoughts, and I couldn't."

"Ya, I've got an odd feeling about him too. But like you said, he doesn't seem to mean harm. He's too, shy, almost."

"I know. He's sitting on the edge of the couch, waiting for Scott. At every foot step he stands up and asks if he's home, but it was either Storm or you. And he wouldn't answer your question. It makes me nervous."

"I'm sure it's nothing, really."

"You're probably right. I get paranoid easily."

"Ha, you get paranoid easily?" Nanny said as she grabbed cold toast and spread some blackberry jam on it.

After a few more moments of silently observing the guest from the kitchen, they heard the guys pull up and the man stood up earnestly. Scott and Wolverine came bouncing in down the halls, actually headed up the stairs when Jean caught them. They had been arguing over who had won the most pool games. They had lost track after a few rounds of beer.

"Scott, someone's here to see you." Jean said as she approached the stairs.

"Alex?" Scott rushed down the stairs.

"No ..." but by the time Jean had said this, Scott was already face to face with their guest. The man's eyes began to tear and he smiled up at Scott.

"Scott …" he whispered. Scott starred at him, looking to the others for some sort of an explanation. Wolverine slowly made his way back down the stairs, quietly listening, just like the others. After a few solemn moments, the guest spoke again.

"Scott, I'm your father."

His thoughts raced back and forth between joy and hesitation. The last memories of his parents and his childhood flooded back. Scott starred at him, trying to find some resemblance. He had a few burns on his face and looked like he had been through a lot, but he didn't look like himself, or his brother Alex. Scott looked at him with utter disbelief.

"My father died in a plane crash." Scott stated plainly and a bit sternly. Scott eyed the man carefully, awaiting an explanation.

"No. They all thought we had died, and rightfully so. We first strapped the two of you into the parachutes and sent you off. The plane crashed and I was able to pull your mother and myself from the burning plane. We passed out and the rescue teams couldn't find us. When I woke up, your mother was suffering from hyperthermia. I went to search for you and your brother, but you weren't anywhere. I had to give up my search to get your mother to the nearest hospital. Once your mother was doing better, I immediately began trying to find you again. They wouldn't let us know where you had been taken because they said that only family members would be given such access. Apparently they had found two bodies still in the plane and assumed them to be ours. We lost our ID in the plane and so we couldn't prove anything. Your mother died of a heart attack from the loss of you two only a year after the accident. I've spent every day since trying to find you. Yesterday morning, about one, the private detective I hired called me and said he found some files on a Scott Summers among some top security government files. He gave me your address and I've spent all day traveling here to meet you again." A few tears rolled down the man's face and he urgently wanted to hug his son, but waited until Scott seemed to understand, to really believe. A tear fell off of Scott's cheek and one by one the other X-Men left the two alone.

"I want to hear all about your life growing up. And I want to know where your brother is."

"I don't know where Alex is."

"Oh." They sat on the back porch for a while and everyone came back to the TV room for formal introductions when the Professor came upstairs.

"I am Professor Xavier."

"So you run this school?"

"Yes, but with the help of my teachers. Scott here is the school's Admissions Director and school counselor. Jean is our Psychology teacher. Ororo is our Math, History, and English teacher. Nanny is our Art teacher. Logan is our Gym instructor and I teach Science."

"Nice to meet you all."

"Nice to meet you," the team answered.

"Ah … Dad …," Scott muttered hesitantly, " I'm getting married. Jean is my fiancé."

"Oh Scott!" He whispered quietly. His lisp quivered a bit and stood in silence for a bit, a few stray tears trickling down his slightly wrinkled face. "If only your mother could have been here," he chocked out quietly and blew his nose in his handkerchief.

Most of the X-Men went to bed while Jean and Scott stayed up visiting with Mr. Summers. The Professor had Nanny clean up and prepare a bed room for Mr. Summers and then she too headed for bed. After a few hours, Jean resigned, leaving Scott and his father alone to talk into the wee hours of the morning.

…

"Nanny?"

"Hmmmm?"

Storm giggled softly to herself as Nanny dragged her sleepy self into the kitchen with her knotted spoon and a few paper clips stuck to her back. A pair of scissors drug behind her at her heals. Nanny turned around and noticed the scissors. Storm pulled the paper clips off of her back and the knotted spoon.

"I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately." Nanny said, yawning, sitting down holding her spoon. "This is what happens when I don't get sleep."

"Why can't you sleep?"

"Bad dreams mainly. Once I wake up from one, I can't fall asleep again."

Storm gave her a questioning look, pointing her eyes towards the class rooms.

"Oh no, I don't think it's Nightmare."

"I didn't think she would, after she had a nightmare herself. She dreamed that you had died, and that it was all her fault."

"Oh the poor thing," Nanny laughed.

"She was glad to know you hadn't died, and hadn't been kidnapped by a witch."

Nanny rubbed her eyes and got up to get some water and waffles. "So we're still having our game night tonight, right?"

"That's the plan. I'm not sure if Mr. Summers will join us, or if Cyclops and he will be off doing something or talking together."

…

Every Friday was game night for the X-Men, and their game was typically poker. From time to time they'd play a board game, or spoons. They never bet anything of real value- often food items they had stashed away in their rooms, or they'd bet chores- whoever lost had to do the chores. If they ever bet money at all, it never exceeded ten dollars from any one person. While the X-Men were playing some poker, the Professor took Mr. Summers on a tour of the school. All of the children were asked to stay outside, in their rooms, or in the library. They had been on their best behavior, being very careful not to let a display of power slip; Mr. Summers didn't know what Scott was, or what any of them were, for that matter.

…

"The school is magnificent Professor Xavier."

"Thank you. We have all worked hard to provide safe and educational experiences for all of our students."

"Now you said it was a boarding school, right?"

"Yes."

"So do the children go home for the summer, or do you have year round schooling?"

"Most do go home during the summer, but there are a few parents who feel like their children need to stay here. Most of them see this as not only a good education but also as a means of altering their bad behavior. We offer a few summer classes for those who chose to stay here, but we often do a bit more field trips during the summer."

"You certainly have every thing a child could need or want to succeed! I bet these children go on to some of the best colleges!"

"Yes yes." The Professor smiled proudly. "They are very smart and most to go on to some of the most prestigious colleges in the Nation."

…

"Are you going to play this time?" Storm asked Nanny as they all pulled up chairs and Storm began to deal.

"No. Hahaha, I'm horrible at poker. Could never really remember what was a good hand or a bad hand. Now, if we were playing BS, I'd be in. I enjoy just watching and chatting." "It's fun to watch Jean beat you all," Nanny added. Wolverine raised his eye brows.

"She only wins because she keeps reading our minds."

"I do not!" Jean playfully insisted.

"So Nanny, I heard that the Professor has offered you spot on the team. You'll be an official X-Men soon." Cyclops looked up from his cards for a moment. "… or X woman," he corrected himself and smiled.

"Not so soon. I have to relatively finish my training. And I will rarely go on any missions with you all. I will still be the official babysitter."

"Well if you're going to join the team, you're going to need a name."

"What do you mean? I already have one."

"'_Your real name,_'" Nightcrawler mocked Magneto.

"Ya, that's what I'm talking about. Unless Nanny is on my birth certificate or something."

"Not good enough."

"Have any suggestions?"

"You could always take the opposing name of Magneta."

"That is so unoriginal Scott," Jean scolded. She smiled and anteed-up.

"What!"

"I fold," Wolverine said quietly.

"What about ….. hmmm."

"See, there aren't any names. Nanny is just fine. Besides, my position ON the team will still be as a baby sitter."

"Anti-O?" Cyclops continued. "She's like our 'anti-magneto' but since that's too long, Anti-O."

"There is a certain ring to it, but no. Stop while you're ahead three eyes." Wolverine sipped at some beer that he was allowed to keep in his room.

"My name is Nanny!" She said firmly, rolling her eyes as she got up to refill the chip bowl.

"You mean I won?" Nightcrawler starred at his and Jean's cards, and applause arose from the whole group.

"Maybe she doesn't cheat." They all laughed and Scott stole a kiss.

"Well it is up to you, but I'll keep thinking of some names any ways."


	22. Blue To The Touch

Mr. Summers stayed for another week while Jean and Scott finalized dates and places, food, invitations, and all the intricate details. Mr. Summers joined in on several of the children's football games and now joined Scott on his early morning jogs.

"It's great that Mr. Summers can be here to get to know Scott again, just before your wedding."

"Ya." Jean sighed as she graded some psychology papers on the back porch. She looked up for a moment and starred off into the distance. "My dad hasn't returned my phone calls. I've been thinking of flying down to visit him. Fix it all out face to face, since he won't return my calls. I'm scared Nanny. We haven't talked in years, and I'm scared he might just slam the front door in my face." A small tear rolled down her face. The new arrival of Mr. Summers made Jean miss her father even more and feel even more nervous about her situation.

"I don't know how anyone could stay mad at you Jean. I wish there was something I could do to take your mind off of it, but …" Nanny grinned at the irony: only the Professor could literally take Jean's mind off of something, though Nanny wasn't meaning it in quite those terms.

"Oh I'm going to be all right. Staying up late, getting so nervous and excited- stressed about the wedding; it's made me extremely sensitive and overly emotional."

"I understand that feeling all too well."

Rogue came up behind them and smiled and nodded towards Nanny. "We're running to the store. We can we get you anything?"

"No I'm good. Thanks."

Nanny and Rogue weren't just "running to the store" though. They were actually on their way to pick out a wedding present for the two love birds.

"Did they register anywhere?"

"No. They've been too busy to think about presents." She sighed. "Our job is going to be tough. They're not moving into their own house, at least not yet, so they don't need house hold appliances or silverware, or china. Though, I don't think you can go wrong with China. However, China- at least the good kind, is not exactly within our budget."

"So what are you thinking of getting them?"

"I'm not sure. Things you can always get them are picture frames and photo albums. But I don't think that's enough. I've thought about painting their wedding portrait, but then it would be a bit late. We could always pay for their honeymoon or something, but I have a feeling that the Professor is footing that bill."

"Really! That's so sweet." Rogue was starry eyed with excitement and the romance. She grinned, and then she turned back to Nanny. "I can't wait until I get married. I have the perfect dress in mind. And I know where I want my honeymoon to be." Rogue paused and sighed. "But marriage is a silly thought for me. I might as well just become a nun. I feel like a leper not being able to touch people!"

"Ohhhh. You know, there's got to be someone out there you can touch. Or maybe some way to control your powers so that you can touch. It's going to be hard, and I know you already know that, but there's got to be a brighter side sweet heart."

"I've thought about both of those. But I'm so tired of waiting."

Nanny nodded. "I have very little patience too, when it comes to people. Now art, I can have patience for that- up to a point. But if I have to wait on someone, na huh, I simply do not have the patience for that."

"Oh look!" Rogue stopped in front of a diamond jewelry store window and pointed to a beautiful fire opal, phoenix necklace. The chain was delicate and 24k gold.

"Do you have that kind of money Rogue!" Nanny laughed. "It's beautiful, and perfect for her, but then what would we get Cyclops?"

"You're right. But maybe I could mention it to Cyclops and that could be his present to her."

"Yes. Or maybe … Maybe Storm, you, and I can get Jean a present and Kurt, Wolverine, and the Professor can get Cyclops something."

"I like that idea!"

"So now that that's decided, want to browse around for some clothes?"

The girls spent a bit of the day just hanging around the mall, eating lunch and having some flavor burst ice cream (some of the best stuff in the world). They were saving their money for Jean's present, so they didn't buy any clothes. They stopped by a Hobby Lobby on their way home so that Nanny could grab some water colors, some large, high quality water color paper, and some specialized brushes; Nanny decided that she wanted to paint their wedding portrait too. It would be late, but it would be ready by the time they got back from their honeymoon.

"Nanny …" Rogue stopped and pointed to a man who was across the food court, leaning over the railing and simply scanning the room like most people would. "Hasn't he been in just about every store we've been in today?"

"I recognize him, but I don't remember if he was in all the stores with us."

"He gives me the creeps."

"It's probably nothing."

"Ya. I make myself paranoid a lot, like right after I watch a scary movie."

"We'll keep an eye on him, but I'm sure it's nothing." Nanny nodded and they got up from the food court table and headed out.

When they got back, they immediately proposed their idea to the other X-Men, and they loved it. Rogue and Nanny told Storm about the necklace and she fell in love with the gift right away.

…

Storm came into the art room while Rogue was working on some of her homework and Nanny was grading projects and working on plans for the art show. She looked around and with a puzzled look on her face and left, without saying a word. A few moments later she came back in.

"Have either of you seen Kurt?"

"Have you checked his room? He's had to stay cooped up a bit since Mr. Summers is here."

"Ya, he's not in his room. I've checked all over."

"No, I haven't seen him in days. I've only seen him once since Mr. Summers was here."

"I can't find the Professor either. I went to his office to ask him if he knew, or could find Kurt for me, but I can't find him either."

"Who, the Professor?" Scott asked as he entered the room.

"Ya."

"The Professor and Jean went to have a talk with Prophet again."

"Do you know where Kurt is?" Rogue asked.

"No. I haven't seen him all day."

Storm left to search the place one last time before she resigned to grading her own papers.

"Do you know why Jean and the Professor went to talk to Prophet?"

"He didn't say, but I have a feeling it's about those recent disappearances. I imagine he would have asked a few more members to go with him, that is, if my father hadn't been here. Can't make things look to suspicious." He winked.

…

"Did you find Kurt?" Nanny asked at the dinner table.

"No, but he left me a note. It was in the last place I expected something like that to be- MY room." She smiled. "Said he went to meet someone, to clear up things about his past. He also said it would be nice for him to get out since he's been in his room so much, or having to hide so much."

"Someone from his past?"

"Yep." Storm sighed. "I'm trying not to feel betrayed, ya know. I'm trying to trust that Kurt isn't cheating or anything like that. It's not like him, I know, but I'm still worried that something like that is going on."

Nanny didn't know what to say so she simply put her hand on Storm's.

…

"Saturday …

Wow, a lot has been going. Jean and Scott resumed their wedding plans and then out of no where, Scott's dad, who was presumed dead, showed up on our front door step. Now Kurt, Jean, and the Professor are out on missions that the rest of us really don't know a whole about. It's been busy. I've had all sorts of calls from Jean's relatives and I've been playing phone tag with the ladies down at the Fine Arts Center. It looks like we'll be able to enter 12 of our children's art- at the most 3 pieces each. Plus I'll be able to enter some of my art. I took some samples both of my art and some of the children's down to their office the other day and they fell in love with some of my art. Hahaha, which I don't understand since they see much better pieces all the time. Oh well.

Hehe. It's relieving, in some ways, to know that Wolverine has not only lightened up a lot around me, but has been conversing with me more. Things have been so busy lately that we really haven't gotten much of a chance to talk a lot, but it's been nice. Geez! Since Mr. Summers has been here, there hasn't been a lot of room for several things. All of the children have to be on their best behavior, no one can use their powers, and poor Kurt has been locked away practically the whole time. I think Mr. Summers asked Scott why he always wears sun glasses, even inside and at night. I think he said something about after the accident his eyes had become incredibly sensitive to light. I think Mr. Summers is still a bit, curious to that though. Don't think he quite buys that excuse.

Well, it's getting late diary. I better go.

Nanny."

…… Mean while ……

"Hello," echoed a German accent throughout an abandoned warehouse.

"Hello," the same voice echoed back. Kurt turned to see where the voice was coming from. A thin shadow glided over the wall behind him and a sleek woman stepped out of the dark. Kurt starred wide eyed and nervously at the woman who stood before him. He checked around himself to see if anyone had come with her.

"It's ok. I've come alone."

"_You_ know something about my past?" He asked, still a bit apprehensive about meeting with "the enemy." Mystique spoke softly and there was a new look in her eyes. It wasn't of malice, or trickery, deceit. The façade was gone.

"Yes, I know about your past. More specifically, your parents." She paused and motioned for him to follow her to a more well lit area where some beautiful sun light was pouring in from a sky light onto some steps that they could sit on. "I recognized you when we first met. Perhaps I should have told you then." She turned her attention away and starred off.

"Well …"

"I really don't know how to tell you."

"You said you knew my parents? What was my mother like?"

"Cowardly. When she saw you for the first time, after you were born, and everyone realized you were a mutant, she abandoned you."

"It must have been hard though. I don't look like the other mutants."

"Your mother doesn't deserve your kind words. Things might have been difficult, but you're still her son. She could have taken you and run off, raised you herself. After your father found out that you were a mutant, he discovered that she was too. It was hard for her to lose your father."

"What did she look like?"

"Mmmm." Mystique closed her eyes, almost like she was trying to remember. In reality, she was remembering the disguise she had taken on when Nightcrawler was born. "She has blue skin, like you, but it's lighter. Yellow eyes like you." She paused, debating whether she should continue or not. "And short red hair."

Nightcrawler's tailed flicked slightly. He wasn't sure if she was implying herself, or was it that his mother simply looked like Mystique?

"Kurt, you're my son. I'm your mother." After she spoke those words, they both sat in complete silence. Neither knew what else was to be said.


	23. Mama & Papa

"Well the Professor and Jean are back."

"Did she say anything about their trip?"

"No, she mumbled something when she climbed into bed, but she was pretty tired. The wedding plans have really been stressing her out. Her dreams have acted up again and again she's having problems levitating objects. The Professor said it was nothing but stress of the wedding."

"And the father-in-law; where's he?"

"He was pretty tired last night when we went to bed. He said the kids had worn him out in a game of kick ball earlier."

"Ah, so he's catching some extra z's."

Storm half stumbled out onto the back porch in her robe. Cyclops moved over to make room for Storm and Nanny pulled the paper out of the empty seat.

"Is Kurt back?" Nanny asked as Storm sat down.

"Mmmm. –yawn- Haven't checked yet. I was going to check after my shower, but Mr. Big shot is hogging the showers again."

"Seems he's been more concerned with his looks as of lately." Storm said, raising her eye brow in Nanny's direction and sipping at her tea.

"And with his smell!" Cyclops laughed. "I didn't even know he owned cologne! Now he pours it on by the pounds."

"The two of you exaggerate like there's no tomorrow." Nanny laughed and rolled her eyes. "I think he's doing all of it because he feels like he has to keep up with Laser Eyes. He's getting all of the attention with the wedding and his father, so he has to do something to be noticed." She retorted.

Cyclops was stifling a laugh when Big Shot himself slid open the sliding glass door. Storm got up and shook her head at Wolverine. Wolverine watched Storm leave, wondering what her short glare was all about and then sat down. Scott twitched in his seat like he was about to leave the two of them alone, using some lame excuse about seeing to his father. Both Nanny and Wolverine noticed and before he could make a move, Wolverine started in on questions about the wedding, when they were going to be back from their honeymoon, etc; anything so that they wouldn't be alone and left to awkward moments of silence.

Nanny left the two when Rogue wandered down in her PJ's and robe. She had to discuss when they were going to go get the necklace for Jean.

…

"Surprised pops isn't up yet. He's always one of the first ones up."

"Ya, I know, but he did say that he was pretty tired last night."

"Even Nanny is up." Wolverine pointed out. "It's 10:30."

Scott sighed. "Think I should go check on him?"

"Yep." Wolverine nodded and gulped down his coffee.

Cyclops glanced at his own watch, though Wolverine had just announced the time. "I think I'll give him until 11."

…

"I'll go get the necklace tomorrow during lunch."

"Oh, I want to come with you," Rogue begged.

"I have some other shopping I need to do. I won't be back in time for your other classes."

"Oh!" Rogue sighed and plopped herself down onto the couch.

…

"Have you done the research on magnets like I asked you to?" The Professor asked Nanny as they started their daily training.

"Sure have."

"What have you found out?"

"Well, the typical facts that you've learned about magnets: they have two polar sides, north and south, and opposites attract. Then there was some really confusing stuff about superconductors and what not."

"We won't need to worry about superconductors. Is that all?"

"So far, ya. I haven't had much time-"

"You mean you haven't taken enough time to research it."

Nanny rolled her eyes and nodded her head. Why did she feel like she was back in school!

"There is something else, pretty important in your case. You see, the earth is basically one huge magnet."

"And how does that apply to me?"

"You can repel magnetic fields and other magnets, can you not?"

"Ya, I guess so. I haven't tried yet."

"Well, this is something that will take lots and lots of discipline and training, but the sooner I introduce it to you, the faster you can begin working on it. But I don't want you working on it if either Jean or myself cannot supervise. It can be dangerous since you're just beginning to hone your powers. We'll set aside a half an hour of each lesson to practice."

"Are you going to tell me what it is?"

"Patience is a virtue." He paused, and then continued. "Since the earth is a giant magnet, you should be able to fly. Hmmm, in your case, perhaps more like hovering. The further away from the earth you wish to travel, the more energy you will need. And without evoking dangerous, rash emotions to gain such results, I suggest you only hover. It will allow for you to 'fly' across a room to dodge an attack, or get from one end of a broken bridge to the other."

"I'm not sure how many broken bridges I'll be encountering …" Nanny mumbled and smirked.

"But even before we begin to think about hovering, you will need to start to levitate. Stand right where you are, close your eyes, and concentrate."

This levitation practice took up the whole lesson. For the first hour, she would rise about an inch, wobble slightly, loose her concentration, and "land" again. She slowly rose higher and higher, but the wind would pick up and knock her off balance and she would fall again. By the end of their lesson, Nanny had a headache from trying to concentrate so hard, her wrist and bottom hurt from falling so much, and she had only managed to levitate 3 inches from the ground.

"You're getting better, catching on faster. Something that should help is if you practice repelling other objects as well. Perhaps we can set up a dart board for you and you can practice "repelling" spoons at it." The Professor smiled and wheeled himself away. Nanny lay back in the grass, the clouds covering the whole sky and the chilling breeze cutting right through her sweater.

…

Jean woke up to Scott sitting on the end of their bed, quiet- unusually quiet, starring at something he had in his hands.

"Scott?" Jean rubbed her eyes, yawned, stretched, and moved over to see what Scott had in his hands.

"I don't understand Jean." He shook his head and handed a scribbled piece of paper over to her.

'_Forgive me for my sudden departure! I received a call in the middle of the night from the private eye I hired, the one who found you. He's found Alex! I shouldn't be too long. I'll bring him back here, and then we can be a family again._

_Yours truly,_

_Dad.'_

Jean yawned again and gave the note back.

"I don't understand." Scott whispered again. "He just got here. Why wouldn't he wait for me to get up, take me with him?"

Jean sat silent, not sure what to say. Scott turned to her and she collapsed into his arms.

"I don't know either Scott." Scott held Jean for a few moments, and a single tear of frustration and confusion trickled into Jean's bed-head hair. "I do have to say that I don't like it. I didn't want to tell you before, because I often over react, but I've been suspicious of him the whole time."

Scott sighed, sniffled softly, and sucked it up. "I know. So have I. He mentioned so many things though, such insignificant details that no one else could know. He'd say or do something at times that made me question, but I dismissed it as our having grown apart. This makes me even more suspicious, but, oh Jean. I still don't understand how he _couldn't_ be my father. Who, how, _why_ - would someone else have gotten these details?"

"Shhhh. We'll talk to the Professor about it. For now, take the note at face value and trust that he will be back." Scott patted Jean on the head and gave her a kiss on the forehead and she got up to take a shower.

…

"Kurt, are you ok?" Storm knocked on the cracked bedroom door before entering, to find Kurt sitting on his bed, starring out of his window quietly.

"How did things go," she whispered.

"I don't know what to feel." He finally said. "I want to be mad, very angry, but I must forgive. But my anger is so great, my hurt so deep." Storm sat down on the bed next to him.

"Who was it?"

After a long silent pause, Kurt whispered "mother" in German. Storm looked at him confused and a bit shocked. She laid her head on his shoulder and he grabbed her hand. Storm decided it was best not to press the issue any further and Kurt was glad that Storm could understand.


	24. No Leads

Thank you so much to everyone who has been reviewing- mainly Wen1! Anyways, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to update more frequently. Since it's summer now, I should be able to update more. As of right now, I actually have up to chapter 28 written and I'm currently working on chapter 29. **Enjoy and PLZ R&R!**

…………………………………………………………………..

Jean and Scott informed the Professor, but he already knew. He had been carefully watching Mr. Summers and saw him leave early that morning.

"He did receive a phone call. So the note doesn't lie there. And he did leave immediately afterwards, and he even left his suitcase here. All of which is great evidence to imply his return. But I'm afraid that his intentions are not what they seem and that he's masterminded this whole thing. There is obviously nothing of value he left behind, and therefore, really has no reason to return." He paused realizing that Mr. Summers had left Scott behind, and his 'nothing of value' statement had hurt him. "Scott, I'm not entirely sure that he is in fact your father."

Scott sat silently holding Jean's hand tightly.

"Jean, even you noticed that his thoughts and moods were unreadable. He wasn't wearing a hat to protect him from mutants such as ourselves, and I have all doubts that he is a mutant as well. It's a good puzzle, if I must say so myself. I do enjoy a good challenge once in a while."

"Do you have any clues as to what his motives were for coming here? Do think we're in danger?" Jean asked.

The Professor grinned. "We're always in danger, from one thing or another. In danger from this character I suspect not, but always better to be safe than sorry. Motives? Like I said, it is a good puzzle. Even more so with the fact that he did know things about yourself, Scott, and about your brother and mother that even amazed me."

The first day rolled by without any sign of Mr. Summer's return. Nor any signs the day following. The Professor had Nanny sort through Mr. Summer's belongings, to see if there was anything like a phone number, a cell number, an address, anything they could use to either find him, or to see who he really was. The Professor kept Scott busy and away from his room so that no one else would know that Nanny had gone through Mr. Summer's stuff.

"Professor?" Nanny stepped into his office just as the fifth hour bell rang and his physics class went stampeding out of the room. "I found a phone number, of some kind. There's no name, or anything else written next to it."

"Couldn't hurt to try it, could it?" The Professor picked up the phone and dexterously dialed the phone number. It rang once, then twice, then three and four, five, and finally a voice mail picked up.

'_You have reached Mr. Summers at 359-7991. Please leave at message after the –cough- tone, -cough- and I'll get back with you when I can. –Beeeep-'_

The Professor smiled. "Well, if he doesn't want to pick up his phone, then we'll just have to find him." We went on to explain how with his phone number they would be able to use the GPS locator that all cell phones have and trace that down to his location. He worked on it a while with Nanny watching carefully, hopefully learning so that if she ever needed to, she could do it. But, she wasn't sure that she could remember everything there was involved in doing it.

"Hmmm, it's stationary and not too far from here at all." The Professor hooked the locator up to map and zoomed in. The cell phone was at a 7-11 gas station in West Hurly, Ulster County. "I'll send Wolverine."

…

"Did you get the necklace?"

"Oh, I forgot. No, yesterday I was on the phone with this lady from the art show. I can take 5 students and one of the other teachers from our school. And it's very formal, so I've been busy getting all of the details worked out and working with Colossus to finish up his 'master piece' for the show."

"Who are you going to take with you?"

"I'm going to take Colossus, Psylocke, Shadowcat, Ice Man, and you."

"And the teacher?"

Nanny smiled. "Well … -sigh- honestly, I don't know. I'd like to take Wolverine … but, he's not a very artsy person. I don't think Storm has any interest in going either. Kurt couldn't go unless the Professor could figure out how to take care of his tale and his skin. Jean and Scott- I don't know. I could take the Professor, but he's busy enough without having to go."

"So it looks like Wolverine is the best candidate."

Nanny rolled her eyes. "I'd really take him more as a body guard. I know that sounds weird, but if anything were to happen, I'd need some kind of help. Ice man, Colossus and you have a fairly good grip of your powers, but I'm just afraid that at that point it'd be too late. And I certainly can't defend myself or any of you yet. Haha, I could shoot spoons at them- but my aim isn't very good yet."

"So, when are you going to pick up the necklace?" Rogue asked, returning to the original subject.

"Well today is shot. I'm hoping that I can do that tomorrow."

"Why is today shot? And I could pick it up if you're not going to have the time."

"No you can't! You don't have your license."

"Bobby's been teaching me how to drive."

"On what? A riding lawn mower? And I don't even want to hear your answer if you've been practicing on one of the cars!"

Rogue pressed her lips together and didn't respond. Nanny shut her eyes and shook her head.

"Today is shot because I have to finish writing up all of the forms for the art show. Then I have to load the kiln so that Pyslocke can glaze her pot and finish it. I do plan on going tomorrow. I should have all of the details that I can get so far all straightened out by the end of the day."

"What other details are there?"

"Mainly the small things: how and when to get the art pieces to the show and formal wear for all of us."

…

Dinner went smoothly and quietly. Everyone was stressed out for one reason or another- or from multiple reasons. The Professor tried to cheer everyone up by scheduling a series of different field trips and game nights for the kids. He talked with Kurt about Mystique and he talked to Scott some more about his father. Jean was talking to the Professor about the wedding reception and how that would be played out with the children and everything. So even the Professor had things to worry about, besides international disasters and these recent disappearances, AND Magneto himself.

…

"Professor …" Wolverine pressed the cell to his ear and spoke softly as he encircled Mr. Summer's car. It had taken Wolverine a few hours to get to the 7-11 and what he found confused him.

"Professor, his door is open, and I don't mean simply unlocked; the keys are in the ignition, the radio is on some talk show … papers are scattered everywhere, but there's no Mr. Summers. Coffee, cold coffee has been spilt all over the seat and floor and there are signs of a struggle on the ground around the car."

"Mmmmm. Where is the car?"

"It's in the side parking lot, but pretty visible from the 7-11 counter. I'm surprised that no one called the cops yet."

"Talk to the employees. See who and what they saw and figure out at about what time Mr. Summers showed up. Also ask if he bought anything else other than gas. Call me again before you get ready to leave. I might have another field trip for you at that point."

Wolverine searched through the rest of the car. He found very little. What he did find amounted to pieces of paper with names barely legible scribbled on them, receipts for candy and allergy medicine, a private eye business card, and Mr. Summer's cell phone. And the employees of the gas station were little help as well. No one specifically remembered Mr. Summers and no one could agree on a time that they all thought they had seen an elderly, stout man come in for gas. One girl remembered him buying a newspaper and a soda though, but those were insignificant details. Thus without any further leads, the Professor instructed Wolverine to come home and to bring the car keys and cell phone with him.


	25. Boiling Adamantium

"I heard …" Nanny spoke softly as she approached Nightcrawler walking through the school's garden early the next morning. "How are you holding up?"

Nightcrawler sighed and continued to walk slowly through the garden with her. "I don't know what to think or how to feel, you know?" Nanny smiled at his thick German accent. For some reason his accent seemed … different … this morning.

"I'm hurt. And confused. I'm not sure how much I can believe Mystique. And I'm supposed to love her not just because she's my mother, but because Jesus told us to love our enemies. I'm hurt because she was a mutant, but gave me up because I am a mutant. I am angry that my father would reject us and angry for anyone who rejects us because of what we are. And that's where I become mixed up because we're supposed to forgive those who trespass against us and we're supposed to pray for those who persecute us."

Nanny nodded. "I've questioned a lot of things about the faith before. I still do." She paused and looked at up the cool autumn sun rising. "I find it hard to fully trust God- to let go and allow him to handle things. I don't like relying on other people; I don't accept help well."

Nightcrawler nodded. "I know he warned us it wouldn't be easy. I just ... I need time, and prayers."

Nanny nodded her head solemnly. "I'll keep you in my prayers." They walked together a little while longer until it was ready for breakfast and for school to start.

…

"Nanny, do you think Colossus can handle your classes today?"

"Why?" Nanny looked up curiously at the Professor.

"I need you to help Wolverine with something. Scott and I are leaving soon."

"Uhhh …" Nanny washed out her cereal bowl and with a confused look put in into the dish washer. "Ya, he can handle the class."

"Good."

"Wolverine can fill you in on all of the details."

"Where is he?"

"I believe he's waiting for you in the car."

"What! NOW!" Nanny rolled her eyes. The Professor seemed to have a habit of leaving those kinds of important details left unsaid until it was almost too late. Nanny rushed up to her room and finished getting ready. She slipped on her tennis shoes and grabbed her purse and a light jacket before she bolted down the stairs and out the front door. She slipped into the passengers seat and before she had her seatbelt buckled, Wolverine speed out of the drive way. Nanny buckled her seatbelt and waited for some explanations, but Wolverine remained silent.

"So …?"

"We're off to investigate Mr. Summers. It seems at the moment that he has been abducted from the 7-11, where we found his car yesterday."

"I thought you already went through the car."

"I did, but I wasn't able to bring the bike and the car back last night. I hid the car as much as I could. After looking at what I brought back, the Professor decided that he wanted to go over the car again and he wanted me to take someone along who paid closer attention to details."

"Jean pays close attention to details too."

Wolverine nodded his head. "She's been having really bad headaches. Apparently Phoenix has been acting up so the Professor thought she should stay at home."

"What are we looking for?"

"Anything that should mean something to us. So far, all we know is that he's been kidnapped. I found coffee spilt all over the car, papers scattered everywhere, keys in the ignition, and the driver's door was left wide open. None of the clerks remembered anything of use."

Nanny nodded, trying to pay attention and yawned. Wolverine smiled at Nanny as she laid her head against the passenger window and fell asleep.

…

Nanny woke up slowly when she heard the gravel under car's wheels. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"We're here sunshine."

"You really like calling people something other than their name, or even their nickname," Nanny noted. Wolverine stepped out of the car first and Nanny followed.

"So where's the car?"

"I pushed it out of the way, over there. You can't see it from the road." Nanny followed Wolverine still yawning. She pulled her jacket closer around her and disgruntled, looked up at the clouds that threatened a cold rain shower, or perhaps an early snow.

"Huh, it's not here."

"Maybe you moved it somewhere else."

Wolverine shot a glare back at Nanny. "I remember where I put it and I put it right here. Look, you can even see the car's tracks and my foot prints in the sand."

"Well what do we do now?"

"It looks like whoever kidnapped Mr. Summers was trying to cover up their tracks."

"But why wouldn't they have taken care of the car immediately after kidnapping him?"

"Maybe I got there right after it happened."

"Didn't the clerks say that he came in a lot earlier than you arrived?"

Wolverine didn't respond. He took a deep breath and headed for the 7-11.

"Excuse me. Do you know what happened to the abandoned car that was parked over by the dumpster?"

"You again Tiger?" The clerk winked at Wolverine while smacking her gum. She shot Nanny a look and Nanny gave it right back, moving closer to Wolverine's side. "Ya. Manager had it towed earlier this morning. He was tired of looking out the window and seeing such a sight. Said it would scare customers off."

"Where'd he have it towed?" Wolverine spat out quickly.

"I dunno." She gave Wolverine a disgusted, 'I don't care' look and turned to take care of a customer. The customer stepped up to the counter, Wolverine moved aside, and as soon as she was done with the customer he spoke again.

"Where's the manager?"

"He's on his lunch break." Wolverine cursed under his breath and turned his back to the clerk ready to leave. "He takes his lunch break in the back room …" The clerk added. "Why do you care so much anyways?"

Nanny and Wolverine immediately dashed for the back door. The manager stood up shocked when the door swung open.

"You're not supposed to be-"

"Where did you have the car towed to?"

"Who let you in?"

"Look bub, where was the car towed to?" Wolverine grabbed the man by shirt and moved forward.

"I'll call the police!"

"Sir, please. This is urgent. My grandpa left some very, very, important insurance and bond papers in the car."

Wolverine let go of the manager and he straightened out his shirt and tie.

"Alright. The company's name is Pebble Impounders. They have their own towing trucks."

"WHERE is that?"

"I don't know."

"Do you have a phone book we could barrow?"

"Ya, sure. Lisa, at the cash register, can give that to you."

They headed back to the counter and Lisa handed them the phone book. While Nanny called Pebble Impounders, Wolverine called the Professor to update him.

"Alright, I've got the address. It's not too far away."

…

"Is this it?"

"Looks like it."

"But where's the car? Aren't there piles of the newest cars or something in car dumps like these?"

"I'm not sure."

They pulled the car carefully through the gates and stepped out, searching the desolate, grey, rusty lot.

"Look!" Nanny pointed to a large machine on which cars were being set onto a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt took the cars inside the machine where a hydraulic "crusher" compacted the cars so they would take up less space on the lot. Towards the middle of the line of cars was Mr. Summers' car.

"We can't get up there to push it off. Use your powers to push it off."

"Logan, I can barely levitate five spoons at the same time and I can't even aim one spoon correctly."

"You can tie knots in spoons."

"That is the result of several hours of concentration and head aches and we don't have that much time."

"Just try it! We've got nothing to lose by trying."

Nanny took a deep breath and they both hustled over as close as they could get to the belt. She stood 10 feet below the belt, nearest as she could get to the car, closed her eyes, and held her hands straight out. The car wiggled and then stopped and the car behind it bumped into Mr. Summer's car. She stopped and took a deep breath.

"This isn't going to work."

"Try levitating it enough that you can simply tip it off the other side."

Again, she closed her eyes. It rose very slowly and her arms were shaking the whole time. The care crashed onto the belt and on top of the car behind it. With one more try, the car behind it was able to tip it just enough that the car fell off the other side of the belt. Though she wasn't sure how much good a beaten car was going to do them, she did what she was told.

Nanny sat down for a moment, dizzy, and closed her eyes.

"What is it?" She panted as Wolverine looked around worriedly. He sniffed the air once or twice and then quickly grabbed Nanny's arm and pulled her up and began to run. Soon after, bullets pelted the air. Nanny concentrated while running to try to stop the bullets and just as it was too late, she figured out that the bullets weren't made of metal. Wolverine swung the passenger door open, shoved Nanny inside and jumped in as soon as he could. Nanny crawled across to the driver's seat and they took off in a mad rush.

"Logan!" Nanny turned her head to see Wolverine grabbing his right arm.

"I'll be fine." Except it continued to bleed. It wasn't healing as fast as it should, and they both knew it. By the time they passed by the 7-11 again, a few hours later, Wolverine had passed out.

"Professor, Professor!" Nanny yelled into the phone frantically checking her rear view mirror constantly and glancing over at Wolverine.

"What is it?"

"The manager had the car towed and just as we got the car off the conveyor belt someone started shooting at us. Wolverine was hit and he's not doing well. He passed out and his fever is increasing. The bullets weren't made of metal."

"Slow down, slow down."

"In trying to recover the car," she said, taking a breath, "Wolverine was shot. And something isn't right because it's not healing like all of his other wounds heal."

"You say he has a high fever?"

"Professor, it feels like his skin is being roasted in an oven."

"Is anyone following you?"

"I think they were following us for while but I seemed to have lost them."

"Good. Head back for the school and we'll be ready for Logan when you arrive. Call me if you notice that they are still following you."

"I will." As Nanny was driving 20 miles over the speed limit, it didn't take them the 2 and half hours it had taken them to reach the 7-11 before. She pulled into the driveway, slammed on the breaks, and immediately rushed to Wolverine's door. Cyclops and Nightcrawler emerged from the house and carried Wolverine down stairs. Nanny followed. The Professor and Jean were waiting for them in the lab.

"Logan?" Rogue almost screeched as they passed her and some of the other kids in the hall way.

"Kids, everyone go outside. Come on. Everything's going to be alright." Storm herded the kids outside while they took care of Logan.


	26. Things Begin To Fall Apart

As they got the monitors on Wolverine set up, the Professor asked Nanny to describe it all again.

"I pushed the car off the belt, but it made me very dizzy so I sat down and closed my eyes. I didn't figure we were in a hurry, I mean, we only had to look through it; I didn't realize someone was after us. When I opened my eyes Logan was looking around, looking for something. He sniffed the air like he does when he knows danger is around. The next thing I knew he had grabbed my arm and we were running for the car. Then I heard bullets. As we ran I tried to 'stop' the bullets. Just as we got to the car I was able to determine that the bullets weren't metal. I crawled over to the driver's seat as fast as I could and we bolted out of there. As soon as I had time to think I realized that Logan was holding his right arm. He had been hit, obviously, but it wouldn't stop bleeding; it showed no signs of healing. Then, an hour later, his head dropped, unconscious. I put my hand on his forehead and realized that he was burning up. So were his wrist and his arms. I swore I could have smelt his beard burning."

"Professor! He has a temperature of 325° and it's rising!"

"Scott, go get Bobby. Hurry. If it continues to get any hotter, the heat will begin to melt his adamantium skeleton. Nanny, I need you to hold the adamantium skeleton in place. Bobby, you need to keep his temperature down, but you need to take his temperature down slowly. Jean, you will need to retrieve the bullet."

"Jean- Professor," Scott chimed in with a very concerned expression on his face.

"It's ok Scott. I'll be alright long enough to do this. I have to." Jean ensured Scott.

"I don't think I can ..." Nanny objected.

"You can because you must." The Professor replied. He chuckled and mentally noted, '... and because love is a great motivator.'

…

The procedure went well and the Professor began immediately analyzing the plastic bullet they pulled out. Nanny sat with Wolverine, grading sketch books, while they waited for him to recover. She fell asleep, the beeps of the machines singing her to sleep.

"Nanny? Nanny. Wake up."

"Hmmm?"

"The phone is for you. Some jewelry store. They say it's urgent." Nanny quickly took the phone from Jean and hoped the man hadn't mentioned the necklace to Jean.

"Now? I can't."

'_I have other customers here who are ready to buy it now. I told them someone else was looking at it, but they're willing to pay in full and in cash. I told them that I would call them at the end of the day and let them know of your decision.'_

"Then can't I come in a few hours?"

'_I close in a half an hour.'_

Nanny cursed under her breath and yawned.

"I'll be there in a few minutes."

'_Good.'_

Nanny hung up the phone and glanced over to Wolverine. She closed her eyes again for a moment and took a deep breath. She made herself get out of the chair and walk upstairs. Jean took her place in watching over Wolverine.

…

Nanny got out of her car quickly and rushed into the mall, to the second floor, and down the hallways.

"Ahh, just in time. Here it is. I was hoping you would come and get it today because I honestly am glad to see it go to you. I don't know what it is, but there's simply something about that other couple." He shook his head sort of starring off into the distance. He finished wrapping the necklace and putting into a nice little box. Nanny wrote him a check and as soon as the transaction was finished she dashed back out to her car. She carefully put the bag on the passenger seat and buckled her seat belt. As she went to turn the key in the ignition, she immediately noticed something wasn't right- something wasn't adding up. She realized that when she got back to her car, the doors were unlocked- though she had specifically remembered locking them. She wasn't given any more time to think before a cold barrel was placed on her left shoulder and a cold, splintering pain shot slowly through her shoulder and arm and spread throughout her body as she quickly lost consciousness.

…

"I think you have a thing for seeing me on this lab table without my shirt," Wolverine joked as he sat up slowly, grinning at Jean. Jean gave a half hearted grin back, as she fighting a growing head ache.

"We didn't expect you to wake up so fast."

"Is Nanny ok?"

"Yep, not a scratch."

"Soooo, what happened?"

"You were shot with this, plastic bullet-device." The Professor wheeled himself in and instructed Jean to go get some rest. "This device is a form of tracking device- or rather, the opposite. Much like Magneto's helmet keeps me from locating him, this device will do the same with anyone who is shot with it. However, it had something else too- a chemical; a chemical that when introduced to adamantium creates a tremendous amount of heat- enough heat to liquefy the adamantium. Ice man kept your temperature down, while Nanny kept the adamantium in place- kept it from flowing all over your insides. Jean then located the bullet and extracted it. After such an event, your body needed more rest than after any other normal fight."

"Do you have any idea who it was that shot at us?"

"No. I've used cerebro trying to locate whoever it was, but my guess is that they have other devices similar to this to make sure they go undetected."

"Have you found anything else on Mr. Summers?"

"No. That seems to be a mystery for the moment."

Wolverine sighed and got up to put his shirt back on. "So, how's Jean doing?"

"I'm afraid that Phoenix seems to be struggling for control more than ever. Scott is very concerned. He's mentioned that she's become increasingly cynical, when she used to be such an optimist." The Professor stopped and shook his head, reading Wolverine's next question in his eyes. "No, I don't believe there's anything that can be done."

"Hey suga! You had me real worried!" Rogue came beaming into the room and wrapped her arms around Wolverine and gave him a bear hug. He grimaced slightly and pulled his sleeve up to check out his wound. There was a scar- and he had very very very few of those.

"It might be sore for a few days. Nothing you can't handle, I'm sure." The Professor noted.

Wolverine smirked and followed Rogue upstairs.

"Hey sis kabobs, good to see you're doing better. I was hoping to beat you at some basketball again and then you went and tried to get yourself out of it by getting shot." Cyclops winked and Wolverine who simply gave him that "oh ya!" bad ass look.

"So where's Nanny?" Wolverine asked a little surprised that she hadn't been there to "greet" him as he woke up, or around afterwards.

"She had to run to the store for something," Storm said.

"Well, more precisely- you know the present I told you about- the one us girls are getting for Jean? Well, she was waiting for you to wake up when the man called and said if she didn't come down and get it immediately that he was going to sell it to someone else. No one expected you to wake up so early, but, honestly, I'm surprised she's not back yet. She said the store closed at 5. It's almost 6." Rogue explained.

"Mmm. She probably ran to the grocery store for some ice cream or something."

Wolverine walked slowly out the back door, his muscles still sore, though rapidly healing. Cyclops laughed at how groggily he was walking and how carefully he took each step. Wolverine sat down and watched the guys play a game. He shouted insults at Cyclops' team and encouragements for what would normally have been his team. After an hour of relaxing, just as they were called in for dinner, Wolverine's bruises were just about gone and he now had more energy than he had had in years.

"Mmm mmm Jean! When'd you become such a great cook?"

"I had to do something to keep my mind off of the Phoenix. Cooking does that pretty well. And I've loved to cook since my mom taught me when I was seven. So you all like it?"

"It's delicious," Kurt complemented Jean.

"I've never had it before, or cooked it before. I was flipping through the recipe book and found it."

"Has the Professor said anything about the Phoenix yet?"

"No." She sighed and played with her mashed potatoes a bit. "He's really worried about it, which has me really worried about it. He says that he doesn't understand why now, or what the Phoenix is trying to do, other than take over. That much is evident. But there doesn't seem to be a specific motive. She comes and goes at times that have no correlation. Only clues are my dreams, but they aren't making any sense and every dream is so different from the next."

"When was the last time you had a head ache?"

"Right after your surgery. I hadn't been feeling very well before the surgery and so it was taking me a lot of concentration during it. After that, I felt incredibly dizzy and I was so weak. The Phoenix could have completely taken over right then, but she didn't and the head ache stopped. After a quick nap, everything like it was gone."

"We've moved the wedding date up a bit." Cyclops announced, reaching over and placing his hand on Jean's. "We just don't want anything to happen that could prevent the wedding from happening."

The group sat in almost complete silence, finishing their meals. Rogue wandered in and hung up the phone and sighed heavily and went to sit in the Tv room.

"Rogue?" Storm asked, getting up from the table, following her.

"I've been calling Nanny's cell. She's not answering. But, she could have left the cell in the car while she went somewhere, or she could have it turned to vibrate and it's in her purse so she wouldn't realize that we were calling. It's got me really worried though."

"Does the Professor know?"

"Yes. He's locating her right now with Cerebro."

"Or trying to," the Professor interrupted as he wheeled himself into the room. "I don't understand what it is, but every time she's been missing for a few hours, I can't seem to find her."

"Does she …"

"No, Nanny has no mutation form that can keep Cerebro from locating her. I'm afraid whoever shot Wolverine earlier today has found her."

……

Nanny moaned as she lifted herself up from lying down on some hard surface. She rubbed her left shoulder which ached, only to find some small mechanism attached to her shoulder. She yawned and looked around. She found herself in a small, fairly dark room. The walls were cement and there was a heavy metal door with a one-way window in it. She was sitting on a black marble bench, meant to serve as a table, bench, and bed. As she stood up, a light in the room flickered on, a motion censored light. Nanny squinted in the sudden, bright light.

"Where am I?" She walked over to the door and realized that she couldn't see out. She banged on the door as hard as she could and the thing on her shoulder began to sting. She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to pry it off with her powers- only to find that she couldn't use her powers; something was blocking them. She continued to bang at the door and scratch at the device on her shoulder.

"WHERE AM I! LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! THEY'RE GOING TO THINK I RAN AWAY, THAT I JOINED SOME BIKERS GANG!" She screamed at the door. She kicked it, and breathing heavily she paced back and forth. She examined her new outfit and kicked the door again. After tiring herself out, she sat down on the bench again and sobbed … "They're gonna think I ran away and joined a motorcycle gang."

Nanny was wearing black combat boots that laced up to her knees. She had loose, black cargo pants tucked into her boots and a large black, useless belt fastened around her waste. She wore fingerless, magenta, leather gloves, and a very loose, short, sleeveless, magenta shirt with a tight black leather vest, laced up, and low cut, over the shirt. And what she couldn't see for lack of a mirror were the magenta highlights in her hair.


	27. Raged State of Affairs

**Thank you all for being patient. I'm sorry it took me so long to get the last chapter up. I was waiting for a friend to proof-read it … sorta … before I put it up. I should have some more chapters up really soon! Enjoy!**

…

"Prophet!" A man's voice rang out in the abandoned building.

"I knew you would come back to see me. Just as I hoped you would." The Prophet stepped out of the shadows and Storm and Kurt stood beside the Professor.

"My dreams …" Prophet continued. "I've seen the place where those who have been kidnapped are placed. I don't know where it is, but I've seen it in my sleep. I also know a little bit about what those who have been kidnapped are doing there."

The four of them moved outside, hidden from the view of streets or windows, and sat in what warm sun there was left in the ever fading summer and inevitable fall. The Professor listened for a great while until Prophet agreed to return with them to the school and to continue to help them find this facility.

…

"So they're fighting?" Wolverine asked just after Prophet had finished explaining his dreams.

Prophet nodded. "It's a fight to the death. And people are placing bets. All who fight are mutants."

"What's keeping them from leaving, from using their powers against the kidnappers?" Scott asked.

"I don't know. None of that was revealed in my dreams."

"How do we know that you're dreams are portraying reality?"

"We don't." The Professor interrupted bluntly. "But it's the only lead we've got. We can't go wrong in pursing it."

"Is that where you think Nanny is?" Storm asked quietly.

"It's a very good possibility Storm. So far it's the only thing that makes sense."

…

"I grew up in small village just on the outskirts of a large city in Italy. …**"**

Nanny and several others in the facility realized that they could hear through the walls. So, to pass the time they told of their own stories- from how and when they discovered their powers to how they ended up here, if they could remember that much.

"Growing up, my mother used to tell of all of the wonderful stories with ivory women and how ivory skin was considered such a blessing and mark of superiority. They were wild, foolish tales of women with skin as white as flour and how wars were fought for their hands in marriage. Other tales were ancient tales of the Roman gods and maidens with pale skin who saved the life of a god or who set someone free, or who do this or who did that. They were mainly to cheer me up because I was made fun of for my unnaturally pale skin.

When I was eleven, there was a drought and my father lost the majority of his crops- the sole income of our family at the time. Soon after my cousin and uncle began to drop by every other weekend and my mother and I eventually learned that my father had joined the family mafia. Years ago, when my father was a teenager and was dating my mother, he had been in the family business with my uncle, but he gave it up when he got married. We the drought threatened to starve us, my father saw the mafia as the only means to survive. I discovered my power two years later when my uncle, cousin, and a boy they had taken in- also in the mafia- were visiting. The boy's name was Alberto- the most handsome boy I had ever met. He was pushing me down our old dirt road in our old, wooden wheel barrow when a rival mafia drove by, shooting at Alberto and I. I was shot twice in the chest and Alberto was shot in the shoulder. Papa and Uncle Tony came rushing outside when they heard the shots and they were able to hit the passenger, though we never knew whether he died or was simply injured. Alberto fell and let go of the wheel barrow at the crest of the hill. The wheel barrow tumbled down and ran into a stone wall that lined the road a few feet from where Alberto had fallen. The next thing that happened was the weirdest feeling I have ever experienced. When my family came to retrieve my body, they only found white, thick water, splashed on the wall and laying in a puddle next to the wall. There was no hair, no limbs, and very little traces of blood. But sitting in the white pool were two bullets. They took the bullets, and bewildered, simply laid a blanket over me. I later returned that night, shivering cold, feeling like I was made of jelly, and with a few scars and scabs, but I was in one piece. Realizing that I had the ability to become liquid and something in between, my uncle immediately recruited me into the family business. My job in the mafia wasn't a hit man- or should I say hit woman, but rather as a thief. I robbed beautiful museums and jewelry shops and so effortlessly that I left behind no clues for the police. My skin tone allowed me to imitate beautiful, intricate statues that clutter all of Italy- which in turn allowed me to hide for a while until I could escape. After my father was shot a year later, my mother decided it was time to move to America to live with a distant Aunt of ours. Oh boy, my mother was amazed to see how much my aunt had given up the Italian way; her children dressed like Americans and spoke perfect English. They had CDs and game boys and went to clubs and played school sports. And my aunt was appalled to find out that my father had been apart of the mafia and she was absolutely horrified to find out that I had been involved as well. My aunt always encouraged me to get involved in clubs and events at school- she was worried that I'd turn out to be a "bad seed"- that the mafia would continue to have a immortalizing impact on me. But it didn't matter. I had little friends to hang out with or to join clubs with and my skin repelled just about everyone. So, when I was 18 I moved to New York. I worked for a while in an Italian restaurant. The manager was impressed that I could actually speak Italian, that I new _real_ Italian recipes, and he was impressed with all of my "ivory" tales from my childhood. But everyone else was jealous that I got all of the attention and large tips and treated me like crap. I used to talk to the customers that I waited on in Italian and tell them that I was reading them the menu, which always impressed and delighted them. However, I never actually read the menu in Italian; I was really cursing at them. I have always been bitter and I despised the American attitude and awe that the customers presented me with. One night I made the mistake of cursing someone out in Italian that knew Italian and I was fired. Since I was out of a job as it was, I went home to visit my mom and brother. It turns out that my mom was dying due to heart problems and my brother had become involved in a gang. I only stayed a short while. And while I was there, I decided I would moved to New York City where I eventually got a job as a secretary for this incredibly bitchy designer. Since we are both so much a like, we rapidly became friends and she slowly taught me all about her job. When she opened a store in the city, she asked me to be the manager. Because I've always been good at stealing, it was even easier to steal from the store. She never seemed to notice or care. Then a week or so ago, when I was closing up the shop, someone came from behind. I was able to slip through their hands and bound around the corner, but I only ran right into the barrel of a gun. Normally I would just melt, the bullet would fall out, and I would reform myself- no big deal- or so I thought. I tried to melt and found that I couldn't."

"So these devices do turn off our powers?"

"That's one way of putting it."

"Do you know who you fight next Amorpha?"

"Not yet."

…

"I've found the facility. Going off of Prophet's last dream, I was able to figure out that tapes of the fights were being sold on the internet. I searched until I found this site. Then with that I was able to trace it to the location, the facility- which is the same image in Prophet's dream."

"So is this their web site?"

"Yes."

"Look, here's a list of all of the competitors."

"Do you see Nanny's name?"

"No. None of the names fit her, in any way. Hmmm."

"Then we'll have to read the descriptions of their powers to find her."

"'_Amorpha – able to become a liquid, though stand and fight. She's very agile and sly.'_"

"Scroll down a little."

"'_Dazzler - possesses the ability to convert sound into light. Her powers encompass the entire spectrum of light and range of sound._

_Forge … Gambit … Husk … Longshot …'_"

They searched for a while before they began only reading the names that seemed interesting or that could even possibly be Nanny.

"Wait, wait. Scroll back up. Let's see who that is."

"'_Magenta- possesses the ability to move metal, levitate, mold metal, aim metal, and manipulate magnetic fields.'_" Written in small letters was a side note: "_'Named for the color of her eyes when she uses her power.'_ Bingo!"

"Good eye Jean."

"Has Nanny- Magenta, fought yet?"

"Yes, twice."

They went silent. If she fought twice, that meant she won at least once- also meaning she killed at least one other person.

…

"Any word on the next fight?" Nanny asked a few hours later, setting down her bowl of mush- mush that didn't resemble anything you could buy out of a store.

"Ya," Amorpha said sounding confident "looks like it's us darling."

Nanny took a deep breath. She didn't want to kill anyone- it went against everything in her nature, but she also didn't want to die. And now she was going to be fighting someone that for a time being had been her friend, or so she thought.

"Look doll- it's a fight to the death which means that one of us is going to die- and I assure that it's not going to be me."

Nanny was taken back by this and sat on her bench, stunned. As she tried to figure out what to say in reply, or whether or not to reply at all, two guards swung her door open and she was whisked out of the room.

…

"Is she scheduled to fight again?"

"Yes. The next fight is between Amorpha and Nanny, ah Magenta. It starts now!"

A black screen flashed onto their computer and unfamiliar voice announced the next fight.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing and profiting pleasures, I give you Magenta and Amorpha. Both ladies have fought twice and won twice. Please place your bets now …"_

The lights rose and a steel cage was revealed. Amorpha and Nanny stood at opposite sides, outside the steel cage. The guards unlocked their hand cuffs, shoved them in, and the buzzer sounded. What was seen next was an immediate rage in both of their eyes, absolutely uncontrollable and unnatural.

"Professor?"

"I believe the devices have three purposes: to keep each mutant from being found, to keep their powers 'turned off' when they want, and inflict rage when their powers are 'turned on'."

The first move was Amorpha's. She ran at Nanny forming her hands into razor blades. Nanny jumped up and out of the way, clinging to the ceiling of the steel cage. In the flash of an eye, a metal creaking sound was heard and from what seemed to be out of no where, a metal pole- one that had been apart of the cage, went soaring at- _through_ Amorpha. Amorpha melted to the floor coughing and gasping. She pulled herself together and sent herself whirling in a hurricane at Nanny in the form of small, sharp, points- almost like lethal crystals. Nanny darted out of the way as much as she could, but it wasn't enough. One pierced her arm, one scrapped against her left cheek, and one stabbed her left thigh. While waving the metal pole at Amorpha, Nanny was pulling apart several metal items within the facility- wall panels, doors, fencing. She was creating a box directly behind Amorpha while distracting her with the pole and other sharp metal objects. When she was ready and had the best chance, Nanny shoved Amorpha into the box from behind. She then shot the metal box into the air and straight at one of the cameras on the ceiling above.

The X-Men jumped when the box seemed to fly their way and the footage was cut off. A stand-by, fuzzy screen appeared and continued until someone switched the footage over to a different camera.

Amorpha had splattered against the wall, and slid down it, reforming once she reached the floor. She rushed towards Nanny sending more shards at her. Nanny wasn't able to react fast enough and doubled over after one of the shards caught her in the stomach. While kneeling on the floor, wincing from the pain and trying to regain her breath, she began pulling the metal plating off the walls to form a shield. She then immediately began forming daggers behind the protection of her shield. Nanny sent the dangers soaring at Amorpha, pummeling her over and over and over again until she melted onto the floor into a pool of swirled white and blood.

Their devices were turned off and Nanny fell to the floor wincing, holding her head. The lights went off again and the announcer came back on.

"_Magenta is the winner! Those who betted on Magenta will receive their winnings. Those betted in the favor of Amorpha will be credited with the amount they wagered towards the fight to be used in the next fight."_

"I thought they were fights to the death?"

"Amorpha, in theory, cannot die. There are ways of killing her, such as concentrating too hard with Cerebro, but just like Wolverine, there are few things that could kill her. So, since Nanny obviously won the fight, they declared a draw of sorts."

"We've got to get her out of there before she faces a mutant who is really powerful."

"Oh Nanny could hold her own very well against the majority, I would assume. As you can see she nearly destroyed several parts of the facility- which is what you're going to get if you force her into a raged state. However, for the sake of all others and hers, we must get her out of there."

"Why …?" Rogue asked with a confused and hurt expression.

"It's a group of anti-mutant protestors who set this up as a sadistic form of pleasure and profit while they also are slowly getting ride of the mutants."


	28. The Rescue

**Thank you for your patience! I'm trying to get these up as soon as I can. I have been working at putting more of Storm & Kurt into the story. I know I've neglected them a bit. But again, be patient. And thank you everyone who reviews! I REALLY appreciate it!**

…

"You caught me off guard hun. You're not too bad."

"Who are you talking to?" A deep voice answered.

"Shut up. I'm not talking to you. You can't ignore me forever Magenta."

"Magenta ain't here."

"They moved her?" Amorpha questioned with a twinge of attitude in her voice.

"No, they moved you." Came the harsh reply.

Amorpha sighed and sat back against the wall, now completely bored. She was hoping that "Magenta" would be next door, as always, to bug and provoke.

Down the hall about eleven rooms, where she was before, Nanny was thrown into her cell, still gripping her head.

"Uggh! Will the ringing, the buzzing, ever stop!" She knelt to the floor covering her ears.

"How is she?" Someone asked the guards outside.

"Her wounds have been tended to, but she doesn't heal as fast as the others."

"Huh, must have missed out on that gene. When will she be ready to fight again?"

"Ahhh, give her a day. She'll be ready enough tomorrow morning."

"Good. It'll take at least that long to repair the arena. God, she tore that place apart. It's impressive. We're getting more bets now than ever, and they're requesting her the most." He paused, then continued. "We just captured a young man with the ability to fly and generate plasma rays. I'd like to see how she does against him. Arrange the fight."

…

"Do you have a plan yet Professor?"

"I wish it were as simple as breaking in and getting her out. However, the device can only be turned off by a remote, of which I'm assuming the announcer has. There are always guests watching, as well as mutant guards themselves, which will make it hard to simply get in and steal the remote."

"Sounds like a party. One of us goes after the twisted announcer, the rest of use fight our way through the guards, pick the lock, grab her, and we're gone."

"We're going to need to free all of the others. I can't and I won't leave them. This isn't just about Nanny."

"What is it Professor?" Jean asked, sensing that there was more to complicate things.

"I'm afraid that a mutant by the name of Emma Frost has had a hand in the handy work of the devices. Throughout her history, she's been known to be quite clever and ingenious with electronics. I'm not sure, but I have to assume that there's also some built in 'self destruction' in the devices, in case of an escape attempt or rescue attempt, which means if we sound the alarm too quickly, we could do more harm than good."

"But, if we became one of the honored guests, we could get in without arousing suspicion."

"That's what I was thinking Jean." The Professor grinned. "I'm too well known to be the honored guest. Jean, you'll be the guest. While he is distracted with the other guests, you need to retrieve the remote, turn off all of the devices and turn off the security alarms. Once that's done, Wolverine and Cyclops, you will go in and if need be, take care of a few guards. Nightcrawler- you and Storm will let the others out. When you find Nanny, of course, take her. I will remain here."

…

"Professor, how come Rogue, Bobby, and Colossus are always allowed at the team meetings and Pyslocke and I aren't?"

The Professor chuckled. "You're time is coming Kitty."

"When do we leave Professor?" Rogue asked as she hurried into the room, accidentally interrupting Kitty and the Professor.

The Professor starred at Rogue in amazement and stifled a laugh. "Rogue, you're not going anywhere."

"But I thought we were going to help rescue Nanny?"

"No no. Rogue, the point of including the three of you in some of our meetings is that you can learn by observing and listening. It's apart of your training, since the time isn't too far away when you will be apart of the team. However, that time has yet to come and won't arrive for at least another year or two."

"But you need us! Look what happened when Wolverine was shot, and Bobby …"

"I need all of you. And some day, I hope that all of you will get the chance to be apart of the team. Rogue, if there is any specific dire need like that immediate of Wolverine's, we won't ignore it and let someone suffer for it, but helping out every now and then does not make you apart of the team. It makes you apart of the family here at the school. You're time will come. Patience."

Rogue sighed and hurried outside.

"Rogue, what's-" Rogue passed by Bobby without answering him and Bobby followed after her.

…

"The fight schedule has been updated. There are two more fights tonight, and then Nanny fights first thing in the morning."

"What time?"

"The fight starts at 10. Professor … how are we going to get enough money to become one of the guests for this fight! The price has sky rocketed since she last fought."

"Don't worry about that. Once I have donated the amount necessary, Jean, you will need to wait for their instructions on how to get there and where to enter. Then we will figure out our timing. For now though, everyone must stay outside and wait for Jean to off the security systems. Cyclops, pick off a few of the cameras on the outside before you move in."

…

Jean slowly approached a heavy, rusted, metal door and knocked on it as loudly as she could.

"Name," a deep voice growled from behind the door.

"Jean Smith."

"Right this way," the voice the replied as the door swung open and was slammed just after she stepped through.

…

"Ok everyone, Jean's in."

…

"Welcome! Please, right through here."

"Wow, this is impressive."

"Why thank you. It's the control room. This is where I make the announcements, check on the bets, set the cameras; you get the idea. And, through this door over here … this is the bird's eye view, where my guests watch the show. Best seats in town, I assure you. You can see both contestants quite clearly and sometimes blood even spatters onto the glass." The man beamed with pride. Jean tried not to look disgusted. "The other guests should be along shortly. One of them, more of a sponsor to the arena, requested a grand tour of the place. So if you'll excuse me, I'll be right back."

The man left through the control room, and out the other door. He stopped to whisper with the guard posted right outside the control room, then left. Jean carefully opened the door and stood before the control panels and screens.

"Ok, I have access to the video feed it seems. Now which …"

"_Find the buttons to turn off the cameras and security system." _Storm's voice came through faintly in Jean's ear piece.

"I'm trying. Most of these buttons aren't labeled. Ok, cameras. Camera one, two, three, four, five, six- wow, there's a lot of cameras. Ok, they're all off. Security, security. I can't find anything that says security and I don't see any buttons that turn the devices on and off."

"_Maybe it's a portable remote that he keeps with him."_

"I don't think so. I think it's one of the buttons that aren't labeled, or …"

"Yes? Jean!"

Jean returned the guest seats and sat down pretending to take careful notice of every detail in the caged arena. The man nodded to the guard outside and came back in.

"We should be starting shortly. They're getting the contestants ready as we speak." He paused standing in the door way and smiled. "So what do you have against em'?"

Jean thought quickly and carefully. "Mutants threaten to destroy the democracy and lifestyle that we fought for over and over again. After my uncle was killed by one, I've never flinched to see one die, especially not when I'm making a profit out of it." She tried to speak as seriously as she could, swallowing her words, and despising everything she said.

"Hahaha, I've never heard it quite like that."

"And you?" Jean asked.

"Me? Well I don't have anything real personal against them, sides' the fact that I simply can't stand em'. I love blood and money and then someone commissioned me to create an arena for them to kill each other off. I get part of the money betted and I get money for handing the dead ones over to a lab who studies their carcasses."

Jean nodded, speechless. She was trying her best to act nonchalant and she was careful not to give away the fact that she didn't enjoy blood and gore, and that she certainly didn't have anything against mutants.

"Ahhh, here they are."

Two men walked through the doors, one very short and very obese and the other of medium stature, muscular, and bald. Both wore pinstripe suits and polished shoes. The announcer introduced everyone to each other and then introduced himself as Mr. Quinn.

Mr. Loundre, the short, fat one, immediately headed over to the table layered with Danishes and drinks. Mr. Bevly, the muscular one, sat down in silence.

"Mr. Quinn, I was wondering if I might watch as you in the control room as you set everything up." Jean smiled brightly, a little bit flirtatious like.

"Certainly my dear." Mr. Quinn checked his watch, and peered below. "Right on time. Follow me," He said. The guards had Nanny and 'Scorch' ready down below, awaiting the signal.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing and profiting pleasures, I give you Magenta and Scorch. This is Scorch's first fight and Magenta's fourth fight. Please place your bets now."_

"See, after I've announced it I check this screen. This will tell me who has bet on whom. After so much has been wagered, I will start the show. This opens the doors to the cage. Once those are open, the guards will uncuff them and shove them inside. I wait about five seconds, and then, turn up the heat!" He smiled as Nanny and Scorch's eyes filled with rage and they began to go at each other. Jean watched carefully exactly which buttons he pushed and followed Mr. Quinn back to sit down.

Scorch rushed at Nanny, radioactive plasma rays shooting from his hands. Nanny dodged and rolled and sent a pole soaring towards him from behind. He flew out of the way, just in time. The pole scrapped his back badly, but he saved himself from being skewered. He shot more rays at Nanny. She pulled off some metal plating to create a shield, but it melted and burned the palm of her right hand. She molded some of the melting metal into large daggers. As the both of them flew and bounced around the cage, Nanny stabbed at Scorch and he shot at her. There wasn't a lot of room for strategy because neither could completely block the other's attacks and yet both could block them enough to make sure that they were always at a draw- a bloody draw.

"Where is the Ladies room?" Jean asked. "I hate to leave just when it's getting good, but I'm afraid that it can't wait."

"Right this way." He led her to the door and the guard took her from there, down the stairs and to the left.

…

"I don't know how I'm supposed to get into the control room now. I know how to turn off the devices, but I still don't know where the security buttons are. And we really must hurry. Both Nanny and 'Scorch' are really getting beat up in there."

"_Do you think you can push the buttons as you go by?"_

"I'm not sure. I certainly wouldn't be able to push them with my hands without it being noticed, and I not sure how well the Phoenix is going to cooperate with me today."

"_You've got to try."_

"I know, but pushing the button isn't the biggest issue here. I have to turn off the security systems before you can get in."

"_Look by the camera panel. There might a few additional buttons around there. Go into the room slowly and look it over. If you see one that you think might be it, take a stab and push it. Pick up your pace slightly and push the other button and then go back and sit and down and pretend nothing's happening," _Scott instructed.

"Ok, here goes nothing."

'… camera, camera, camera, camera … unlabeled button-no, no, camera … that one,' Jean thought to herself. She waved her hand passed the panel as she moved by, using her powers to push the buttons, and praying that Phoenix wouldn't act up.

"What I have missed?" She asked as she sat down.

…

"Scott, are the systems down?" Storm asked.

"Hold on, I'm checking." Scott punched a few keys on his computer, and then a few more, concentrating hard. "Yes, it looks like it."

"_Good job Jean, they're down."_

"Wolverine, you slice that side door open, but as quietly as you can. Wolverine and I will go in first; Storm and Kurt, you follow after."


	29. Escape

"What's happening! I don't understand!" Mr. Quinn yelled as Scorch and Nanny fell to the ground grasping their heads. Scorch yanked his device off and rested against the cage, trying to focus his eyes. Nanny scratched at the device and using what energy she had left, she concentrated her powers just enough to dislodge the device. She threw it across the room and tried to stand, but slunk to the floor, her arms and legs like jelly.

"No! How could this be?" Mr. Quinn hurried over to the control panels and turned the cameras and security system back on and then turned the devices back on.

"I assume we will be refunded for this!" Mr. Lounder shouted as he let himself out the door.

"And you better have it all working again soon, or we'll pull the plug on this place all together," Mr. Bevly stated as he slammed the door behind him.

Jean's eyes flared and her mouth twitched. She stood in the door way and using her powers she picked Mr. Quinn up and threw him out the door. Her vision blurred for a moment or two, Phoenix again trying to gain control. She found the system and device buttons and turned them off again.

…

"We've got these two," Scott said referring to the two guards coming their way. "Find where they're being held and we'll be there shortly." Scott shouted to Kurt as he grabbed a hold of Storm and they began teleporting their way down the halls out of harm's way.

Scott shot at the guards in range and Wolverine struggled with another, large guard, finally impaling him through the chest.

"Come on, we've got to help Storm and Kurt."

"Go on. I've got to get Nanny out of the cage and help the other poor soul trapped there."

As Scott moved in Storm and Kurt's direction, he noticed something sitting in a dark corner, some what hidden behind some wooden crates. It looked like man, just sitting there. The closer he got, the more he could see; the man was sitting there with his mouth open and his eyes wide, and he was missing his right ear. Scott recognized that face and rushed towards him, almost in tears.

"Dad," he whispered. Scott grabbed held his father, placing his forehead on his father's forehead. That's when he realized that there was no blood by his missing ear. In fact, the only thing that had come out of the gap were wires and rubber buttons. Scott pulled back for a second and examined him. He shut his eyes and clenched his teeth. He heard a door crash to the ground and he quickly headed off to help Storm and Kurt.

…

"_Jean, are you ok?"_ Scott shouted into his mouth piece as he rushed behind a wall to avoid being hit by one of the guard's bullets.

"Yes, I'm fine. Everyone here is taken care of. I'm headed your way."

Jean left, quickly disposing of her high heals and stepping into some slipper like shoes. She was dizzy and her eyes would flare up every other few seconds or so. She made her way slowly, trying to calm herself and Phoenix enough so that she could help the others.

…

Wolverine sliced the locks and door knobs off the doors to the cage. Scorch was struggling to stand when Wolverine reached out his hand.

"What's going on?" Scorch asked.

"You're free. Leave now."

"But how-"

"No time for questions. Get out while you still can." Wolverine gently bent down and cradled Nanny in his arms. He moved quickly, leaving the cage and heading immediately for the jet.

"No, no … you don't understand … I won't go back, I won't fight anymore. You can't make me …" Nanny mumbled. Everything was spinning, so she kept her eyes shut as Wolverine hurriedly carried her out of there. She leaned her head against his chest. Frankly, she didn't care who it was; leaning her head against something more solid was the only way to keep her bouncing head from provoking her already horrible headache.

"Nanny, it's ok."

"How do you know my name?" She whispered, opening one eye for a moment, trying to see if she could focus enough to get a clear vision of the person. That's when she recognized his scent. She smiled softly and shut her eyes again, without another word.

…

"Scott, where's Jean?" Wolverine shouted as he made his way towards the back door.

"I don't know. She said she was on her way."

"And Storm and Kurt?"

"They're finishing up."

"Well, I would like thank you for fetching her, but I'll be taking her back now …" A familiar voice interrupted. Magneto stepped out of no where, Mystique just behind him, with Amorpha's arm wrapped around Mystique for balance. Magneto stretched out his hands and simultaneously kept Wolverine from moving while manipulating the magnetic fields that surrounded Nanny, pulling her towards himself.

"I thought I'd go ahead and let you all do the dirty work and then come in and collect what was mine," Magneto added as Nanny reached his arms and he began to turn towards the door, Wolverine still frozen where he stood. Cyclops took a shot at Magneto when he had the chance and Nanny fell to the floor. Wolverine jolted forward once his feet were free, but he wasn't close enough to Nanny to grab her before Magneto had the chance. Kurt rushed through and grabbed Nanny, teleporting her out the back door and into the jet. Magneto too, hurried out the back door and locked it behind him. Mystique and Amorpha rushed towards the jet as Magneto brought it around. Cyclops was working on melting the hinges off the door when Jean came rushing up.

"Jean!"

"I'm ok, I think." She said. The lights flickered and Scott braced Jean before she could fall. The lights flickered again and Jean steadied herself. Wolverine kicked the door open with the help of Storm's wind and they all ran to the jet and headed for home.

…

"_Good job. We'll be ready when you return." _The Professor's voice rang throughout the jet from a speaker phone.

"Who's _we_?" Wolverine asked.

"_Prophet has agreed to join the team."_

Wolverine rolled his eyes. "Was wondering how long it'd be before that happened."

Scott shook his head at Wolverine, chuckling silently. Jean sat back in her chair, half asleep and dreaming. Her eye lids flickered and her cheek would twitch every now and then.

Nanny was lying in the back across a padded bench. After a small sip of water, and simply time, she was able to focus her eyes more, though she still had a headache, she was still noxious, and she could still hear her heart beating in her ears.

"I hadn't even a chance to thank you all for saving me the first time, and here you've come and saved me a second a time," she said, sitting up. She leaned her head up against the wall behind her, keeping her eyes closed.

"Feeling better?"

"I still feel like I've been put through a blender, but yes, I am feeling a little better."

…

"No, go ahead and let her sleep. I can fill her in on everything later on."

"Hmmm, forget sleep." Nanny yawned as she entered the Professor's office. "Have I missed anything so far?"

"No."

"So all of the mutants made it out alright?" Storm asked.

"Yes. It will take me a while to locate the lab they mentioned, but for the time being, they won't be receiving any more mutants."

"Did you find anything on Mr. Summers while we were gone?"

Scott had been starring out the window during the whole meeting, and he clenched his fists when his father was mentioned. Small rain drops dotted the window as it began to sleet.

"My father died in that plane crash," he whispered sternly.

"But then who-"

"He was a robot. My guess is that he was sent here to pick up information on us; the minor details. He's kidnapping was staged, a trap. They meant to draw Wolverine out to capture him. And I believe they were the other couple from the jewelry store were simply there to lure Nanny away." Scott closed his eyes, fighting back tears and remaining questions. He left, slamming the door behind him, before anyone else had a chance to speak. After a few moments of silence, the team heard the motor cycle start and pull out of the driveway.

"How did he-it, know so many small, yet significant details about Scott?"

The Professor sighed and lowered his eyes. "That is something that I will tell you all later." He returned his eyes to the group and smiled at their newest member.

"Nanny, I don't believe you've met Prophet yet." They shook hands and the meeting was dismissed. Most went to bed, dead tired. Jean stayed up worried about Scott in this kind of weather, but she soon fell asleep on the Tv room couch.

"Not sleepy eh?" Wolverine asked as he followed Nanny into the kitchen. She reached into the freezer and grabbed out one of those frozen pizzas and preheated the oven.

"Ohhh, I'm so tired I think I could sleep for years. No, it's …" she sighed and put the pizza on a tray and shoved into the oven. "I've never killed anyone before." She widened her eyes and raised her brows. "I never even imagined killing someone before. I- it wasn't self-defense, it wasn't cold blooded murder. I didn't kill them for fear of my own life, though it would have happened if I hadn't killed them. I didn't kill them because I wanted to, and I didn't really kill them because I was forced to. It was really strange. Yes, in a way we were forced to kill- the devices inflicted such an unnatural hatred in us, but it was that hatred that made us. Oh … I'm babbling. Point being, their blood, their agony, their bodies, their faces, their voices- I had talked to both of the ones I had killed before I had killed them. We were, strangely, kind of, friends. Even- not so much- Amorpha. But-then- hmmm. Every time I close my eyes I see it all over again. It makes me sick to my stomach."

The pizza timer went off and Nanny hopped off her stool. Wolverine suppressed a laugh when he saw Nanny wince as she bent down to pull the pizza out. She was a sight. Her right palm was bandaged from being burnt, her right thumb had a purple bump on it from being pinched in some of the cage, she had bandages around her stomach, a long, but not bad, scratch across her belly button, a large band-aid on her left thigh, bandages on her left shoulder, and her lip was fat from a good punch. She had other various bruises of course, but watching her wince to grab the pizza with her magenta highlighted hair tied back in a messy bun, tickled Wolverine.

Nanny set the tray down on the counter and cut it up. "Want some?"

"No. I can't stand those frozen pizza things. I only like the real stuff," he said, pointing to a number and a coupon on the fridge. Nanny smiled and rolled her eyes, grabbing a plate down from the cupboards.

"I don't know if you remember or not, but one of your old friends stopped by to join us."

"At the arena?" She said in between bites. "Who?"

"Magneto."

"What'd he want?"

"You it would seem. Said he came to collect what was his. Though he tried and failed to take you along, he did manage to take Amorpha with him."

"Figures she'd join him," Nanny mumbled.

"What- what happened, before, back, wherever Magneto is?" Wolverine said, watching Nanny intently.

Nanny chewed her pizza carefully, thinking of what to say- if to say anything at all. She wanted to pretend nothing had happened, leave it all behind and left unspoken. They would never stop being curious though and they deserved an explanation- a truthful explanation. She took a careful sip of water and thought of where she wanted to start. Wolverine dropped his gaze, feeling bad that he brought it.

'Why couldn't you leave it alone! Good going, sis kabobs,' Wolverine thought to himself.

"I was standing on a bridge in Great Leap National Park," Nanny began. Wolverine lifted up his head, a bit surprised. He figured at this point that she was going to ignore his question.

"Toad stuck his tongue out and grabbed me by the waist," she shuttered. "He pulled me up into their, helicopter, I think. I was so dizzy from being so violently grabbed up into the air that I couldn't focus my eyes enough to tell what it was. I guess I passed out because I woke up in a damp, kind of dark room. It smelled horribly and there was no door, anywhere. There were only bars. I didn't understand that in the beginning, but after realizing that he was a mutant with magnetic powers, I understood. Toad was the guard; that guy creeps me out. Anyways, Magneto went on and on about how it was impossible for me to be so understanding about mutants, that I had to be a mutant somehow. I told him that was absurd- that mutants find out about their powers, abilities, earlier on; WAY earlier on. _He_ went on to explain that in certain cases the mutant must undergo extreme stress to bring the powers out. He made me fight Sabertooth, himself, and I think I fought Mystique- is that her name, once. I obviously had the disadvantage. He tried some other machines, but nothing was working. So, he finally hooked me up to this machine that was a combination of some mind thing and an electric chair. It was supposed to pull up every painful memory while practically shocking me to death. Turns out that the memories were the key. The next thing I knew, pieces of the machine were being ripped off of it and it exploded, sending terrible shock waves out. Because I was in the "eye of the storm," you might say, the shock waves didn't affect me. I stumbled my way towards the door, using my powers to get out; everyone else was unconscious. But after that, I have no memory. I have no idea how I ended up in the ally way."

She sighed, felling better about having it off her chest, but she still felt embarrassed. She cleared her plate and yawned. Of course Wolverine was speechless. There never is anything to say in response to painful stories. Nanny left Wolverine thinking to himself at the table while she went to flip through the Tv stations, careful not to wake Jean up.


	30. Slow Recovery

Nanny's eyes were drifting to sleep when she heard the sound of a motor over the soft and steady rain. She glanced at the DVD player; two o'clock in the morning. She got up for a glass of water and Scott came in, soaking wet.

"Hope you all didn't stay up waiting for me."

"Hmm, well, Jean tried, but she fell asleep fast. Nah, don't flatter yourself. I simply couldn't sleep."

"Do you want some coffee?" Scott offered.

"Haven't I been around here long enough for you all to know …"

"… that you don't like coffee. Sorry, forgot."

"It's fine. Guess I'm a little irritable, eh? Guess that's what I get for staying up. … So, how was your ride?"

Scott took a deep breath and sighed. "It was nice."

"Was the rain bad?"

"No. It was mostly drizzling until I headed back; it picked up a bit then."

They sat together in silence for a few moments. Scott took his time with his coffee and Nanny snacked on gummy Sponge Bob candies. Scott rinsed out his mug and headed up for the night. Nanny turned out the lights and headed up to her own room as well. She still wasn't able to sleep, but the only thing on the Tv at this time of the morning were hour long commercials of "Oh my gosh, that really works! How'd you do that?" Or, there would be some kind of porno show, or those stupid blind date reruns.

She went and lay in her bed, listening to the radio play softly.

…

-knock knock- "Professor … where's Nanny?" Kitty asked, interrupting the Professor's class the next morning.

"Isn't she in her classroom?"

"No. Storm doesn't know where she is either."

"Maybe she's still asleep," Jubliee suggested.

"Hmmm." The Professor mentally asked Kurt to go see if Nanny was still asleep and he told Kitty to return to class; Colossus could handle the class for now.

"Hello? Nanny … are you ok," Kurt's German accent whispered through the crack in the door. He could hear her radio playing faintly in the background and her alarm clock wouldn't stop buzzing. Kurt knocked on the door louder, and the door pushed in a bit more. There Nanny was, curled up on top of the covers, shivering, fast asleep. Kurt turned off Nanny's radio and he fiddled with her alarm clock until it shut up. Le left, shut her door tightly, and returned to the Professor's office just as classes were changing.

"She's fast asleep."

"Hmmmm. That isn't like Nanny."

"No, but from what I gather, she didn't sleep hardly at all last night," Scott interrupted. "When I came home about two, she was still up. She was really tired but said she couldn't sleep. I'm not sure how much longer she stayed up after that."

"Let her sleep then. I'll talk to her when she wakes up."

…

Nanny stumbled down the stairs at a quarter to one, showered and dressed, but was still a bit groggy.

"What time is it," she yawed, grabbing out the cereal and milk and rinsing out a bowl.

"It's almost one, earlier bird," Wolverine teased.

Rogue giggled at the two of them- the look in Wolverine's eyes and the look in Nanny's: tired, confused, and taking forever to understand one sentence from Wolverine.

"I thought you said you couldn't sleep."

"I couldn't. That was until about six or so when the sun started to come out. I either fell asleep because my body simply couldn't stay awake any longer or because the light has something to do with my nightmares."

"Gonna become nocturnal, eh?"

"Mmm, I hope not."

"Here- let me help you with that." Wolverine hurried over to help Nanny with her cereal. She was so tired and sluggish she couldn't keep her hands steady long enough to get the cereal into her bowl.

"No, I've got it. I don't need any help."

"That mess of yours says otherwise."

"I'll clean it up. I don't need your help-" Too late. He had her cereal poured and the milk poured before she could really protest. He was even on his way to cleaning the mess up before she had time to sit down.

Nanny sat down to eat and by looking at her, you might have thought that Nanny was the female version of Rip Van Winkle, with magenta highlights. She had bandages all over and heavy bags under eyes, yawning every three seconds or so. Wolverine smiled and Rogue left before things got too mushy.

…

Nanny spent the day out side walking in the gardens, weeding a bit. She sat down on the lawn in the afternoon and read some too.

"Nanny," the Professor interrupted her reading. "Tell me about these dreams."

"Um …" she finished the sentence she was on, put the book mark in her book, and set it down. "I don't remember things that happen in my dreams for the most part. I simply remember killing those two people- the blood, the smell. Their pain. I see their faces and their bodies."

"Hmmm."

"Why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if there was something I could help with. I'll work on it and let you know of my progress around dinner time."

"Professor, dinner is in two hours."

"That should be enough time." The Professor wheeled himself inside, mumbling to himself.

Just a few moments after Nanny had picked up her book again, Jean came out.

"Feeling any better?"

"Much better. You?"

"For the moment things have calmed down."

"How's Scott?"

"He's much better. I have to say, we both slept very well last night. I wasn't bothering him by moaning or tossing and turning, or moving the furniture around. And that was helpful to me too, obviously." Jean sat down next Nanny and played with the grass. They sat quiet for a few moments and then Jean grinned and suppressed a laugh.

"What? … what?"

"Rogue told me about the two of you this morning."

"What about this morning?"

"When he helped you with your cereal and how he was starring at you."

"He was? Man I must have really been out of it."

"Rogue said it was the cutest thing of the century."

"Oh ya right! Hahaha, Wolverine- cute!" Nanny scrunched up her nose and looked up at the sky. "I don't think he's capable of cute. He's too … too tough, too strong- and bad tempered to be cute."

"Well in his own way, I'm sure he's adorable."

"Again, not exactly the word I would have chosen."

"Have the two of you even talked about _the two of you_ yet?"

"Heh, no!"

"Why not? What are you afraid of! It's obvious to the both of you, and everyone, that you like each other."

"It gets awkward and uncomfortable when we're alone."

"You already act like a couple in many ways. What could be so weird about making that official?"

"Look Jean," Nanny laughed slightly. "I have no clue why it is the way it is, but, it is the way is."

"Know what I think? I think you both are scared- of, maybe loosing each other. Think about it- if you can like each other openly, but not make it official, then if one of you finds someone new, it's not like you actually lost the other person."

Nanny laughed. "You're way over complicating things."

"Well, that's still the way I see it."

"Uh huh."

They sat together a little while longer in silence, both wrapped up in their own thoughts. Kurt and Storm sat on the porch talking quietly, looking out over the gardens as well.

…

"Mmm, this pasta is fantastic Storm."

"Nanny, I think what we need to do is spend a little bit of time during our training sessions each day working on getting rid of those images. I have some mental exercises that I think might help."

"Do we have to start our lessons so early?" Nanny slouched in her chair disappointed to hear the word "lessons" again.

"I suppose we could do them after lunch."

"Oh thank you!"

"She needs her beauty sleep," Scott poked. Nanny shot a glare at Scott.

The Professor sat in silence for the rest of the meal with the concerns of his team weighing heavily and cumbersomely on his mind.

…

"Still can't sleep?" Wolverine asked as he stepped out on the porch, closing the sliding door behind him.

"Yep. My guess is that the light some how pushes the images away. I have no idea why it would have any effect, but sure enough, as soon as the sun goes away, that's all I can seem to think about."

"So, what nocturnal animal would you like to be? A raccoon, cat, fox, perhaps an owl?"

"I always have wanted to fly, but I don't think I'd like to be an owl. Maybe a cat, or a fox. Nah, a cat. It'd have to be a wild cat though. Maybe a leopard." She took a deep breath and tried her best to stare straight out in front of her. They were alone together for the first time in a long time, out under the cold, romantic stars.

"So, how's your arm doing?" She asked, finally breaking the silence again.

"Mmm, oh that? It's fine. I guess it finally healed about an hour after the surgery."

"Really? Then you must have woken up minutes after I left." She sighed again. Why couldn't she have noticed that the doors had been unlocked just a little bit earlier?

"How are you doing? You've got some pretty big bruises there yourself."

"Ya. It kind of hurts to sit down. My shoulders are sore too. Hahaha, it took me forever to get dressed this morning because I have so many aches. I'll be fine. I _am_ fine. Some of us just don't heal as fast as others …" She teased.

"You know, despite all of your wounds, I have to tell you that you put up one hell of a fight."

"You saw me fight?"

"The Professor didn't explain everything to you?"

"No. There wasn't really any time. Rogue helped bandage me all up and then she sent me off to bed, but I couldn't, so I came to join the meeting. Then I stayed up all night and then everyone else went to bed. By this morning, I guess everyone figured that I knew. I slept most of the day and didn't want to think about any of it, so I put off asking. Then I forgot about asking."

"Well, I'm not sure how much they told you or how much you could pick up on from being there, but the arena was a way to get rid of mutants and make some money too. They put the fights on the internet and some of the better fights they sold tapes too. People would bet on who would win and so forth. However, when they died, they would send the bodies off to some lab so that some sick pervert could perform tests and experiments on the bodies."

Nanny tried keeping her dinner down. She didn't even want to imagine what they were doing to the people in those labs- to the two people she killed. And what would have happened if she hadn't made it? What kind of experiments would they have performed on her!

Wolverine sensed that she had heard enough and stopped.

"It's getting chilly," Nanny whispered after a few moments of silence and stood up to go inside.

"I'm sorry I brought it up," Wolverine said as he opened the door for her.

"Don't be. I wanted to know more about it all."

Wolverine gently took her hand and they went in together.


	31. Miracle Lotion

**I'll be on vacation starting June 30th. I will have SOME internet access, but I'm not sure how much. And even though I may not always have access, I will try to work on it. However, I do have a LOT of other AP assignments and visiting family to do. Hope you enjoyed the treat of three chapters at once. **

…

"Where are you going," Nanny asked, looking up from the Tv on that Friday morning.

"Kurt's taking me to a spa for the week end. We're going to a really nice seafood restaurant for dinner, and there's a lake right by the spa. He wanted to get our minds off of everything that's been going on."

"How sweet!"

"I know. I didn't expect anything like this."

"Have fun! How long will you be gone?"

"We'll be back late, late Sunday night."

"Ooooo!"

"Well I better go. He's got the car all loaded up. I'll see you Monday."

"You too." Nanny smiled. Kurt knew how to treat a lady, though Nanny wasn't complaining about Wolverine's soft gestures. _She _was the only time Wolverine was ever soft and careful about what he said.

…

"Laser eyes, up for a game of capture the flag?" Wolverine called out to Scott from the lawn below Scott's window.

"Ya, let me get Jean some water and I'll be down."

"Ok, team captains." Wolverine set up the teams in his gym class while they waited for Scott to join them. "Bobby, you're a Captain, and Lizzie, you're the other captain. Only rule is that Laser boy and I can't be on the same team."

"You couldn't beat us Logan if you're team had the both of you on it or not," Bobby bragged. Wolverine raised his eyebrows and flipped a coin.

"Tails never fails," Lizzie called out.

"Tails it is. You choose first Lizzie."

Lizzie coughed and rolled her eyes. Wolverine smiled and headed towards her. "Cyclops." Lizzie called out.

"We get Wolverine then."

Wolverine pointed his finger at Lizzie and eyed Scott carefully as Scott went laughing to Lizzie's team.

"Ready sis kabobs?"

"Let's go light bulb."

…

"Nanny I can't center this clay."

"Did you knead it enough?"

"Yes."

"There still could be some bubbles. Hold on a second and I'll be right there. … Kitty, will you make a sign so that no one will touch the still life?"

"Sure."

"Ok Rogue, let me take a look."

Nanny sat down at the wheel, wet her hands, and tried to center it. After a few minutes she stood up, whipped her hands on her apron and stared out the window. The kids were tackling Wolverine. You would have thought that they were playing football by the looks of things instead of capture the flag. She smiled and forgot about what she was doing.

"So …?"

"Oh. I think you ought to take it off, dry off the wheel, and knead it some more. I'm pretty sure it's got some bubbles in it."

"Ohhhh man." Rogue sat down and stared at the clock. There wasn't enough time to do all of that. She slouched on her stool and sighed at the clay mess.

…

"Yes, we have reservations." Storm said as she approached the Spa counter while Kurt was unloading their luggage.

"Ok. Whose name is it under?"

"Kurt Wagner."

"Spell that for me please?"

"W a g n e r."

"Reservations for two? A premier room on the lake side?"

"That's the one," Kurt said as he pulled the luggage in through the door.

Storm turned at looked at him, a bit surprised. She hadn't realized that he had gone all out on this little get away.

"Alright, if you'd like to follow me, I'll show you to your room. You can leave your luggage. Hank can get it." … "Here you are. If you need anything, just call down. We do have room service with the kitchen until 11:00 tonight. Massages and facials last until 5 pm, and the pool and hot tubs are open until 10:00. You're welcome to stay out by the lake as long as you like. Your key here will let you in the side door."

"Thank you."

"I hope you enjoy your stay," and she shut the door.

"Remind me to thank the Professor when we get back for that lotion he gave you." Storm said, a wide romantic smile sweeping over her.

"Yes. I haven't been able to go out like this since I was in the circus, and even then I wasn't able to get this kind of treatment."

"Is the lotion water proof?"

"Well, sort of. It will last for four hours, and then I must go put more on. He said if I let it go much longer than four hours, I start to turn a light blue- look like I was keeling over."

She smiled and wrapped herself in his arms as they stared out their window at the lake and beautiful afternoon. Kurt would still have to keep his jacket on most of the time they were there to cover up his tail, but he could get in the hot tub if no one was around and they could take a dip in the lake late at night when no one was around. As well as the fact that the bath tubs in the bedrooms were huge with jets on each side.

"We have dinner reservations for the Sea Rock Flounder at 8."

"Sea Rock Flounder? Kurt!"

"I hope you brought the dress I mentioned earlier."

"Where are you getting all of this money?"

Kurt chuckled and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't worry about it. It's a present. And I didn't rob a bank, if that's what you're thinking." He winked and they kissed longer.

…

"Are you ready?" The Professor asked as he strolled through the kitchen just as Nanny was finishing her lunch.

"Ya. Just let me get some water."

"I'll meet you out there."

Nanny cleared her plate, put the opened loaf of bread away, put the lids onto the jars that had been left open, and headed out for her training.

"Owww," she winced as she sat down on the grass.

"Let's start with the basics again. Levitate the spoon."

Nanny sighed. She had that part down. She levitated the spoon and bent the spoon in half with no problem.

"Now aim the spoon at that tree."

The spoon flew straight most of the way, then it faltered, rocked a bit and managed to scrap the side of the tree. She tried it again and hit the tree dead center.

"It seems that your fighting in the arena has helped you."

"It really has." She said softly.

"Very well then, try levitating yourself."

Cross-legged Nanny began to lift herself slowly off the ground. When she was a foot off the ground she began to fall to one side. She lost her balance and concentration. She quickly braced herself and was able to regain her composer. Carefully she let herself down to the ground again, wincing when she sat down.

"Impressive. You'll need to continue to practice, but I would say you might be ready for the danger room soon."

Nanny yawned and nodded her head. She wasn't sure how she felt about the danger room.

"Now, for those dreams of yours."

…

"Only a month before the wedding eh?"

Scott nodded. "I just hope that things go well. When Jean gets uptight and stressed, so does the Phoenix, naturally. I'm afraid that something might happen during the ceremony, or that Jean might faint."

"So I guess she hasn't been getting any better then?" Wolverine asked concerned.

"No. She'll stay in bed until nearly noon. Then she'll eat, and hold her head. You can give her every medicine there is, but it doesn't help her headaches. And she fainted last night on her way to the bathroom."

"And the Professor?"

"I'm afraid that the Professor is worrying himself sick, literally, with all of this. He's tried several things with Jean, including trying to communicate with the Phoenix. That doesn't work though because the Phoenix needs Jean for things such as communication. I know the Professor knows more than he's telling us too."

Scott took a breath, watching Wolverine's class doing labs around the school. "But I guess Jean, Nanny, and Rogue are going out tonight to pick out the dress."

…

"Mmm, Sie sind schön meine Liebe!" Kurt let out under his breath. Storm heard him whisper something and she turned to face him as she was grabbing her purse.

"You are beautiful my love," he said in English this time.

"You look very stunning yourself." He took her hand and they headed down to the taxi that was waiting to take them to their dinner reservation.

Storm was stunning in her long, sleek, black dress. It had a slight shimmer to it and a slit that came up to her knee. The dress tied behind her neck and she was wearing wonderful pearl earrings to complete her beauty. Kurt was dressed up in a black tux, a black top hat, and everything else to make him look like the most respectful British gentlemen from the 1900s you've ever seen. The long tails on his tux just barely covered his tail, but as long as he was very careful, he wouldn't need to wear his trench coat the whole night.

A classical band played on the first floor and the waiter took Storm and Kurt upstairs, into the open air. There was only one table on the deck so they would be perfectly alone. The music was soothing, but quiet enough they could talk. The stars shone brightly over the lake and the city lights sparkled across the water.

"Kurt," Storm began. "This is an awful lot for our first official date."

"I know." Kurt looked down at his plate. "And I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable. I just felt bad. I know you look at Jean and Nanny and see how they can go anywhere with Logan and Scott, have as many dates as they want. I know you wish we could do that. Instead, we have to try to find time to ourselves on the porch at the school, or in the gardens late on the week ends. I wanted to make it up to you. I asked the Professor about a lotion of some kind a while ago and he had been working on it. As soon as it was finished, I wanted to go out on a real date- a date to make up for the other times we couldn't go out. Besides, we probably won't get many other chances to go out again."

A single tear of joy rolled down Storm's face. "Thank you," was all she could say. She was speechless. No one had ever been so kind to her. No one had ever gone out of their way to do so much for her.


	32. The Dress

**I want to thank you all for reading, and please do review! It doesn't have to be long. Reviewing is a way for me to see who or how many people are reading my story, and what my readers do and don't like about my story. Please don't be afraid to critique, but please keep it constructive and not degrading. I will hopefully be updating a bit more here in the next coming weeks- but I'm not promising anything.**

**Thank you, and enjoy!**

…

"Boy are we going to busy for the next couple of weeks!" Rogue half yelled from her changing room stall. Jean came out and stood in front of the three mirrors.

"Oh Jean! I love that dress."

"Do you? I don't know- not quite what I'm looking for."

Rogue popped her head out for a few seconds. "It's not what I imagined you wearing Jean."

"Well I think it's perfect," Nanny laughed.

Jean went back in to try on another dress. "So what do you mean Rogue?"

"Well, of course there are all of your wedding preparations we'll have, but Halloween is just around the corner."

"Do the kids typically go trick-or-treating?" Nanny asked.

"No." Jean replied. "We don't have enough adults and trying to find 40 costumes for the kids would be a nightmare."

"But Bobby and I were talking about it." Rogue interrupted as she came out in her burgundy dress; she enjoyed trying on dresses even though she wasn't looking to buy one. "We're going to talk to the Professor about letting some of the older ones go out this year. After all, we have four more adults than we've had in the past."

"I'm sure I could cook up a few costumes." Nanny offered. "It's perfect for the kids, actually. I mean, think about it. It's the one time that they can go out and be themselves without anyone noticing. It'll be perfect for Kurt especially."

"We've also been concerned about the kids using their powers while they're trick-or-treating and creating more trouble than we can handle."

"Like Rogue said, we would only take the older ones," Nanny offered. Jean dropped the subject as she came out in another dress.

…

"It's Prophet, right?"

"Ya. My real name is Josiah, but I don't care which people use. And you're Wolverine, correct?"

Logan nodded, sipping at his beer. "The real name is Logan." They stood in front of the back, sliding glass door, aimlessly gazing over the backyard. After a long awkward pause, Josiah realized that Logan wasn't typically a conversationalist.

"So, what made you join the team?" Josiah asked.

"Oh, I don't know." Logan took a quick glance around the place and the kids who were playing video games on the couch.

'_Sure you do,' _came Logan's inner voice. _'You joined for two reasons: Rogue & Jean.'_

'_Three reasons.' _The voice echoed again.

"The Professor has a great thing set up here. Who could pass it up?" Logan finally stated.

"This place is magnificent. Just makes me wonder what Magneto's place is like."

Logan smirked. It was a funny question to think about.

"Who's ready for Charades!" Jubilee yelled. Charades was taken very seriously at the mansion and the competition was fierce. Though most embraced charades with as much energy as Jubilee did, Colossus and Bobby were not too eager to give up their video games.

…

"Have you decided on the color of the bride's maids' dresses yet?" Rogue asked as she tried on an Emerald wedding dress.

"I've been thinking silver and periwinkle."

"Ohhhh, that sounds pretty."

Jean came out and they all grinned from ear to ear.

"I think this is the dress."

Rogue and Jean finished changing back into their clothes while Nanny put away the other dresses that they had tried on. Nanny tried on a few too, but she hadn't found many that she liked.

"Alright. Now, are you sure this is the right size? We can have another size here in a week."

"No, it fits perfectly." Jean assured the clerk.

"Any alterations? Lace, bows?"

Jean took another look over it.

"Actually, ya. Is it possible to get rid of the pearl beads sewn around the neckline and up the straps?"

"Absolutely. So you want the neck line and straps plain?"

"Yes."

"You're in luck. Our tailor comes in tomorrow to pick up the next batch of alterations. And not too many people are eager to get married in the fall-winter time. He should have this ready for you in a few days. Just fill out this form. We'll need your name and home phone number. You can ignore the address, unless you would like us to drop it off. And then simply specify what alterations you would like." The clerk handed Jean the slip and a fancy pen. _David's Bridal_.

…

"Are the girls home yet?" The Professor asked, wheeling himself into Scott's study.

"Yes. Jean's taking a shower and I think Nanny and Rogue are down stairs."

The Professor gave Scott a curious look.

"Professor," Scott grinned, "Jean was smiling from ear to ear when she came in. She was going on and on about how they found the right dress, but of course she refused to tell me what it looks like. Professor, I haven't seen her this happy since … before Alkali Lake."

The Professor grinned too and peacefully wheeled himself out.

…

Nanny was munching on some home made apple crisp that Kitty and Liz had made in home ec. on the couch, flipping through a magazine full of Halloween costumes and decorations. (You know, one of those magazines with loads of cheap decorations and accessories. Only, Halloween was the main focus.)

Most of the children were in bed by now. Rogue and Bobby were up giggling and scheming in the library. "Nanny," the Professor said as he wheeled himself into the room.

"Yes?" Nanny took a sip of water and put the magazine down.

"I mentioned the Danger Room to you the other day. Well, it's finally functional again. Tomorrow morning Scott and you are going to start your first training session. And I suggest you practice as much as you can in these next couple of weeks. After Jean and Scott return from their honey moon we're going to have a competition. The children will have a tournament as well."

"What time should I be in the arena?"

"I think Scott mentioned eight. He's got to set things up and I think he wants to make sure that everything is in order before you begin." Nanny nodded, figuring the Professor was done, and picked up her magazine again.

"I hear you all have found a dress."

"Oh, yes! We would have brought it home tonight but Jean wanted a few things altered. It really is gorgeous Professor."

"Have you looked at bride's maids' dresses at all?"

"We didn't have a lot of time tonight. I mean, I know Jean sifted through the other dresses, but I don't think she found anything that suited her fancy."

"We will be very busy these next couple weeks. I assume you and Jean most of all, however."

Nanny took in a deep breath and sighed. "Ya. I volunteered to set up the reception- which includes decorations and what not. But, since they're not inviting too many people, they're not going to order invitations and the table settings won't be as lavish as they might have been if the reception was held elsewhere with more attendants."

"Well, I'm glad you all had a good time tonight."

"So am I." Nanny grinned. The Professor turned and wheeled himself toward the door and Nanny glanced at her magazine again.

"Oh, Professor!"

"Yes?"

"Rogue and I have an idea."

The Professor wheeled closer. _'This could be dangerous,'_ he jested telepathically to Nanny.

"Halloween has always been such a great tradition for kids. I know I loved it. Anyways, the team now has more adults and so we were wondering if this year we might take some of the older children trick-or-treating. I could help get or make the costumes, and of course I'd help take them around."

"I'll have to think about it, but it's not a bad idea. These kids need more events in their life and this could be a perfect occasion."

"Oh it is perfect! Especially for Kurt. I know he'd want to take the kids around. Think of it- it's the one time that they'll fit into society. No one could or would ever know the difference on Halloween."

"I'll think it over. But if we do decide to take them trick-or-treating, I don't see why there is any reason to restrict it the oldest. I think the restriction of 'teenagers' would be enough."

"Thanks Professor!"

"Good night Nanny."

…

Nanny, tired of staring at the cheap decorations and accessories, turned from her magazine to the window. She watched the leaves and branches sway carefully in the wind, warning that fall was all but upon them. The howling wind added the perfect effect to her Halloween and autumn mood.

Another noise caused Nanny to turned towards the door- she heard the motorcycle reeve up and heard it speeding out of the drive way. Every now and then Wolverine took off to a bar for some pool, or – well, no one really knew where else. Wolverine certainly didn't regret staying at the mansion, but his spirit was still too free. A little excursion every now and then was good for him.


	33. Danger Room Excitement

Nanny and Scott entered a small, dimly lit room. A glass cabinet on their left contained extra suits. Just over the long control panel was a large window that allowed the instructor, or whoever, to view the fight below.

"Alright. We'll start here in what we call the Control Room. I'll go over the rules, safety instructions, and all of that other good stuff. Then you can start some training simulations.

Rules and Safety. All of the children must have an adult in the control room if they wish to train. If you want to train some time, just be sure you let one of us know. Things can go wrong, so if they do, someone needs to know where you are so we can come and get you, hopefully before you sustain any injuries, or worse.

These buttons here allow you to choose your setting: jungle, desert, simple martial arts arena, an endless factory-which includes dim lights and steam, and we even have a space simulation for the fun of it. There are even different kinds of fight settings, but we can go over those later. Then, these buttons allow you to choose who you wish to fight. Now, before you enter the arena, you must put this device on. It sits over your right eye. It records your moves and it can recognize when you're hurt, if you surrender or win, and even detect malfunctions in the program. For any of these reasons this device will turn off the simulation.

The device creates pain as well. Say you were training against the hologram projection of Logan. If the hologram cut or stabbed you, you would feel pain and see blood, induced by the device. We call these false injuries. Of course the actual injury will not remain after you shut the simulation off, though you may still feel a bit sore in that area. And of course you can sustain injuries by being thrown against the actual arena walls or if you're fighting one of us in the flesh and blood, then obviously by our powers or fists, or whatever.

Back to whom you can fight. Every time you fight your device will record your moves and how you react to certain moves. This creates a database which allows for a more realistic version of yourself either for others to fight against, or even for you to fight against. Once you have fought several times in the arena it might be a good idea to face yourself. You can then observe how you react to others and whether or not your reactions are predictable. In the database already, we have Mystique, Magneto, Toad, Wolverine, the Professor – which by the way, no one has won a fight against his simulation, even though he rarely trains here- Storm, Jean, myself, and we'll soon have a database for you and Kurt.

Got it so far?"

"How did you get Magneto, Mystique, and Toad in the database?"

"Ahh, that's a good question. Now obviously they've never 'trained' with us here in the Danger Room. So what we've done is create an artificial database based on the information we already know about them. For the most part we simply plug in their powers and then the ordinary fight patterns. Sometimes we'll take some sequences from other databases and mix them with the artificial databases. It's not a very accurate database, however, it still gives you the chance to fight another power. In your case, it would be more beneficial to you to fight yourself than Magneto."

"Ok."

"Alright. Now go ahead and put the device on. Make sure your suit is properly fastened and go ahead through that door and to the middle of the arena." Scott now switched to the P.A. system.

"_Ok. We're going to start with a simple training program and go through a couple steps. In each one you'll fight me." _There was a short pause and an almost robotic version of Scott appeared in front of Nanny. She laughed at his expressionless face, hollow eyes, and the funny white and gold instructor's suit.

"_Ok. This first simulation is blocking. You will hear three beeps and then the program will begin. Try to remember all of the blocks and retreating techniques that Logan has taught you."_

…

Blocking was first. The next simulation was bent to increase Nanny's offensive skills- kicks and punches. The last one focused on defense and offense, but now the hologram was programmed with a toned down version of Scott's actual powers.

The training all together lasted a few hours, with little breaks in between.

"Nanny, that was an awesome job! But, I thought you said that you had only begun to work on your levitating. And now your flying!" Scott and Nanny talked on their way back up the elevator.

"I have been working on my levitating. However, when your adrenaline is pumping and your situation is tense, a lot of things become necessary. Like pushing yourself past levitating a few inches. But you must also remember how the Professor mentioned that my power's intensity is greatly affected by my emotion. My emotions run high when I'm under a lot stress- like in a fight or training. Thus I can do more when it counts, then when it doesn't."

"Well you did a great job. Better than most on their first session. And now you can come and train at your own will. There is one thing to remember though," the elevator bell rang and the door slid open. "You'll have to remember to keep your powers low. Especially in your case- you could end up tearing down the side panels. Keeping our powers low key has rarely been a problem, though it is the cause for its recent … reconstruction."

Nanny panted and nodded, wiping herself off with her towel as they entered the living room. Rogue was outside playing a game of football- girls vs. boys. Nanny slouched into one of the cold porch chairs and fully unzipped her training suit.

"The Danger Room is up again?" Kitty exclaimed rushing over to Nanny, looking over the new suits. "Wow, I like these better than the old ones. They even have our names on them! I wonder if that means we get to keep them!" Several of the students had gathered around.

"I'm not sure that your suits are as nice. I think it's only for the team …" Nanny said.

"Ohhh!"

"You should join us Nanny!" Rogue called from the field.

"I'm too tired," Nanny yelled back.

"Oh come on! We could really use you."

"I'm no good at football. Besides, I'm too tired from training earlier."

"Whimp!" Rogue mumbled, though loud enough for Nanny to hear it. Nanny ignored her and sat back, relaxing in the cold breeze.

"So I hear you got your chance in the Danger Room today. Also heard you did well," Jean said, coming up to her from behind.

"Jean … you look like you're feeling better."

"I am, but that's off the topic."

"Hahaha. Yes. I had a good training day. Only bad side effect is that the training didn't help my remaining bruises."

"Where?"

"Most painful bruise is here on my right side. The one over my ribs."

"Is it purple any more?"

"No. It's morphed into a disgusting yellow-brown color."

"You know, Storm has a recipe for ailments. She said they used it back in her mother's village. I'll talk to her Monday about making you some."

"At least the purple highlights are fading fairly fast." She sighed and tied her hair back. "So we've talked about my training- what's up with you?"

"Nanny," she said scooting her chair closer, her face all lit up, "I think I've finally won."

"You mean you think you've beaten the Phoenix?"

"Yes! I didn't have any problems while we were dress shopping last night and then I came and still had no problems. I was so exited from looking at dresses that Scott stopped working on new jet designs to simply watch me twirl around the room. And last night, I had the best sleep I've had since I've been back! Scott said that I didn't toss or turn, mumble, scream, kick, or punch. And nothing in the room moved last night. I feel so energized and relaxed- and happy."

"This is so wonderful Jean!"

"I'm so relieved Nanny." They sat in silence a few moments longer watching the football game. By now Nanny had cooled off and the wind was beginning to give her goose bumps. Nanny opened the sliding glass door and they went inside.

"Oh Nanny, I almost forgot. I talked to the Professor earlier. Your Halloween idea is a go. We'll take all of the kids thirteen and up. So, we're looking at about fifteen kids."

"Awesome! Now we need costumes!"

"Are you going to dress up?" Jean asked.

"You bet!"

"Like what?"

"Like me- I guess." She shook her head at the irony. "I'm going to wear that biker's suit y'all found me in. You have any ideas?"

"I'm not dressing up Nanny."

"Uh huh! We'll just see about that," Nanny laughed.

…

"We should have carry out more often," Jubilee muttered in between bites.

"Only if you're willing to foot the bill," Scott laughed.

"I don't have that kind of money. I was just saying, ya know, as in a suggestion."

"Uh huh." Scott rolled his eyes and stuck the chop sticks in his mouth again.

"So Cyclops, I heard Nanny got to train in the Danger Room today. When are we going to get to?"

"Actually Liz, I was going to announce that soon. Regular Danger Room training will begin on Monday again, just like the good old days. So now you get to beat each other up in Logan's martial arts class and in my Danger Room."

Jubilee and Peter hit high fives. Bobby sat silent, sulking a bit. Last time he had been in the Danger Room was in a tournament that he and John had been winning. The tournament was closed without an official winner due to the "accident": Siryn got caught up in the adrenaline and forgot to keep her screams down.

"Are we going to have permanent teams like before?"

"We haven't decided, but I think you'll have different partners each time. It'll you give you a chance to practice against just about everyone. You still need to keep your powers in check, however …" Scott said, glaring at them all.

"Are we gonna have a tournament?" Kitty blurted out.

"We're still debating about that."

"Oh come on! Those are so much fun!"

"We'll see, we'll see."

…

"Professor?"

"Come in Nanny."

"Oh. It's nothing much sir. I just couldn't find anyone else. They must have gone to bed. Anyway, I'm not very tired and thought I might head to the danger room. Just letting you know."

"You be careful Nanny."

"I will."

Nanny made her way to the Danger Room with a little skip in her step and a song stuck in her head that she hummed as best she could. She was wearing a white tank top and grey shorts- the X-men gym uniform. The training suits were too heavy to wear much underneath.

"_Welcome. Please verify yourself,"_ the security system stated as Nanny approached the training door. Nanny placed her hand on the key pad and the door opened. She stepped through and just before the door shut she heard a creak and slight crumple of metal, and then something force the door open again. Nanny turned around quite startled; she hadn't notice anyone in the hall way.

"Thought you'd hog the danger room to yourself, eh?"

Nanny blushed and let out a sigh of relief. "I have no intention of hogging the danger room."

"Good. Then you wouldn't mind if we trained together."

"Well, actually, Logan, I mean …"

Logan glanced up from the control board and smirked, cocking his eyebrows at her. "Good thing you don't have a choice then, huh!" He handed Nanny her eye piece.

"It's just that I still have some bruises ..."

"And you're afraid you'd get whopped by me?" He chuckled. "Don't worry. I'll go easy on you."

"Logan, the point of training isn't to go easy on me. And I never ask you to go easy on me." She put on her eye piece and grinned. "Besides, admitting that I have bruises doesn't mean I thought you could beat me." She finished zipping up her suit and chose the atmosphere: the factory.

"No pain, no gain, right?" Logan said, opening the door open for her as they both entered the arena.

- -

"Do you think we'll start facing each other?" Logan asked. The computer made a few noises and then the first beep was heard.

"I guess we're about to find out." The third beep sounded and the setting was up.

- -

"Damnit." She cursed under her breath.

"What?" Logan asked as he came bounding around the corner towards her. Nanny took a great leap over the railing onto the landing below.

"I should have picked a setting with less metal," she gasped out. When Nanny's defenses were up, she could feel the approach of anything metal, or the simple movement of metal. For instance, at night when she slept, the simple turning of her bedroom door knob would have disturbed her senses, consequently waking her up. The massive amounts of metal in the factory made it impossible for Nanny to use her senses to locate Logan, even though his adamantium skeleton often triggered her senses.

There were few lights in the factory, and a majority of those flickered. Steam and dim lighting enshrouded the arena with eeriness. The pipes popped and cracked. The steam hissed. Foot prints echoed against the mesh, grate, hanging walkways. Adrenaline and the boilers made the air unbearably hot.

Logan followed her onto the pathway below. His landing created a loud echo of clashing metal. Nanny revealed herself from behind him and kicked his side, knocking him in a metal barrel. He turned around and released his claws.

Nanny thrust herself upward and grabbed a hanging pipe; she swung herself onto a landing two levels above Logan. For a few moments he could her harsh, metal foot steps. Then he had to strain to hear her at all.

"You can't hide forever." Logan growled.

"I'm not hiding at all." Logan turned in the direction of her voice. He stomped along the grated floor until finally he found a set of stairs.

"I thought the danger room was meant for training. So far you've only hid like a coward."

Nanny came up to Logan's side without a sound, flying so that he couldn't hear her foot steps. She thrust herself towards him in an attempt to knock his feet out from under him. His heightened senses allowed him reach out and take hold of Nanny's thigh before she could trip him. Simultaneously, Nanny magnetized the floor behind Logan and he came crashing down on his back.

A series of rolls, punches, flailing claws, kicks, and dodges of flying pipes followed. Nanny was knocked off balance and fell over one of the railings. It was too dark below for Logan to see where she had landed, or even if she was seriously hurt. A faint thud was heard, and through a series of gasps, "Ow."

Logan smiled. He jumped to the next landing. Then the next. And the next.

His senses triggered and he thrust around, swinging his claws up. He was shocked to find that instead of a piece of rusty pipe, he faced a sword.

"I've been practicing on my metal shifting." Nanny beamed with pride. "It's amazing what you can create when it becomes necessary." Nanny gasped.

It's hard to describe a fight with so much spinning and swinging when it deals with claws and a makeshift sword. However, the next chapter of their fight boiled down to fencing. A primitive sort; Logan's claws were too short for it to actually be considered fencing. But the motions were the same. Logan sustained a few scratches to his face and one nice blow to his ribs. Nanny had managed herself quite well and only managed to scrape her shoulder.

At the first chance Nanny got, she grabbed hold of the railing and threw herself over it and downward. Logan heard her land, a few heavy breaths, and then silence. Logan landed and sniffed the air. The steam and racket made it hard for him to sense anything either. Nanny jumped from above with great force and knocked Logan forward onto his hands and knees. He grabbed her ankle and flung her into the air. She landed on her bruised side a yard or two from him.

She stood up aching and breathing heavily, but had no chance to move again before Logan had her back pinned to a large boiler. The pain was too intense for Nanny to keep from wincing, to keep from revealing her weakness to Logan. However, her pain and fatigue had evident from the moment Logan grabbed her ankle.

Logan's eyes bore into her soul for a brief moment before he leaned closer, releasing her arms and pressing himself against her, embracing her with a passionate kiss. Her wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

A few passionate moments passed, suspended in time, and then Nanny pulled back and mumbled something. Logan sensed it to: someone was coming and they couldn't be caught like this. With no physical energy left, Nanny polarized herself and the repulsion exploded. Logan went soaring through the air to the other end of the walkway. Mid-flight, the simulation was shut off.

"_Logan, the Professor needs to see you."_ Scott announced over the P.A. Logan hustled up the stairs and exited with Scott.

Nanny slid down against the wall behind her, wincing under her heavy breathing.


	34. Simply Ordinary

**Special thanks to some very important insight from ****prurientmind****. And thanks to all of my reviewers.**

…

"Morning," Nanny yawned.

"Morning sleepy head," Rogue replied, suppressing a wide grin. Nanny pulled some of the leftover take-out out of the fridge and shoved it into the microwave.

"What are you smiling like that for?"

"You were up late …" Rogue tried not to giggle as she glared down into the cereal she was stirring.

"Umm, ya. I've stayed up late several times before, Rogue …"

"You and Logan were alone in the Danger Room last night and everyone is speculating on what you were really doing."

Nanny blushed and set the take-out to cool off. "First," Nanny said, "it's no one else's business. Second, we were training. My bruises and scratches can vouch for that. And, how would anyone know any how?"

"Kitty and Jubilee were caught trying to sneak into the Danger Room."

"Were they caught in the hall or in the control room?"

"Scott caught them just as they opened the door to the control room."

Nanny shook her head in relief. "They didn't even have time to see what was going on, so how could they even tell who was in there?"

"It states who's in the Danger Room outside by the key pad. And you don't need to get defensive Nanny," Rogue laughed. "Sides, everyone knows that no matter what you were doing, the two of you were thinking about it."

"Rogue!" Nanny spat. Rogue put up her cereal bowl, still grinning, and left quickly. Nanny hung over her take-out at the kitchen island, thinking about what she had just heard. Out of embarrassment and hope that she might avoid similar comments, she quickly seized her breakfast and slipped back up to her room.

Nanny leaned against her head board, curled up under the covers wearing her blue fuzzy socks, cloud and moon PJ pants, and an old high school hoodie. Through her shut, ice crystallized window she could hear a gym whistle blow and then a gruff voice shout, "Push ups. As many as you can rep out in the next thirty seconds. The goal for the ladies is thirty-five, and forty-five for the men."

Nanny grinned and soaked in the sound of that gruff voice.

…

After taking a shower, dressing, and braiding her hair back, Nanny went to the small chapel to pray. She was alone today, since Kurt was with Storm.

She shut the door quietly behind her and sat down next to a window and a beautifully carved, wooden statue of Saint Therese.

…

_-Ding-_

"After a few more classes with Logan, Josiah, you'll get the hang of things." Scott and Josiah came out of the elevator, up from their training session. Josiah panted heavily, dotting himself with the towel.

"I can't believe you all do this daily."

Scott chuckled. "You don't get out much, do you?"

"Hardly at all. Every now and then I'd take a vacation to France, or England- bi-locating that is. Much cheaper ya know. Never stayed long. I've never had too many friends. In fact, it's often been too painful to have friends. I was able to see each of them die before it happened. I tried each time to save them from it, but I failed. But that's been the strange thing about you all. So far I have only seen the present. Perhaps a few pasts, but I certainly don't recognize them as any of your pasts- unless …" he took a good hard look at Scott. "You weren't once a thief in New Orleans or anything, were you?"

"No …" Scott looked at him curiously.

"Well, you're both wearing glasses, and about the same build, so I thought- anyways, like I've said, I've only seen the present. I'd like it to stay that way too."

Scott and Josiah walked down the hall past the game room, where Peter and Bobby were playing foosball.

"Hey, we should grab the Danger Room before someone else does."

"pff, ya, everyone's been flocking to it today."

"We can't sneak in after Kitty and Jubilee were caught last night."

"Logan's busy with his gym class. Maybe Jean would watch us?"

…

The day rolled on as most other days in the year do. The kids played, did push ups, finished homework, or begged one of the X-Men to chaperon them in the Danger Room.

Nanny got suckered into chaperoning for Rogue and Jubilee. She looked through her magazine in the control room, turning herself around in the comfy computer chair, circling what decorations she'd tried to find at Party America. She spent the rest of her day browsing different decoration stores, picking and choosing, chagrining it all on the school credit card, and coming home with the Viper loaded down.

…

"You can't lock mutants up as if they're all criminals," Dr. Grey stated calmly, but forcefully.

"But they have the ability to reek havoc on the country."

"So do the terrorists of other countries and the mass murderers who _are_ human."

"And we lock them up when we find them."

"Senator, you can't lock up the mutants because they _might _become criminals."

"Why not Dr. Grey?"

"They have rights like the rest of us. If you're going to spend your time putting people away because of what they might do, you should go ahead and round up all of the Muslims in this country because they might be terrorists. Or how about the Italians because they could be apart of the Mafia. Or all males in general because 90 of all crimes are committed by males. And mothers too, because they might kill their own children."

"Yes, but mutants have powers that we cannot control. If we cannot police just the bad ones, the only decision we have left is to create a mutant state regulated by the government."

"Excuse me gentlemen," the Professor calmly interjected, "but there are ways to police them. Mutants themselves have found ways to render another mutant powerless. These devices, however, are dangerous enough in the hands _of_ mutants. If we put these devices in the hands of all policemen, what's going to stop them from arresting any mutant simply because of the way they look, or talk- out of prejudices? For years, to this day even, African-Americans have been arrested simply due to prejudices. Gentlemen, we cannot let this degrade to the point where the mutants will lead their own civil rights movement- a movement that I doubt would proceed as peacefully."

"This is a matter that will take considerable amounts of debate, cooperation, and thinking. And I would like to thank you all for coming today, especially Dr. Grey. There aren't many of us who would feel comfortable researching a subject where you have to come in such close contact with them," the President stated.

The senators and the President stood up and shook hands with each other, and then with Jean and the Professor.

…

"What's all of this?" Jubilee asked, tossing some Pop Rocks in her mouth.

"It's Halloween decorations."

"We're going to decorate for Halloween this year!" She exclaimed.

"And we're going to go trick-or-treating."

"Yes!" Jubilee hollered and jumped around.

"Shhh. It's late, you'll wake everyone up."

"Can I help you decorate?"

"Well I'm not going to start tonight. I'm getting tired and it would very difficult to set up the yard in the dark."

"We're decorating the yard too!" Her eyes widened with delight. "Shucks, its too bad we like never get any trick-or-treaters."

"Maybe this year we will."

"So, what are we going to do for costumes?"

"Everyone who's 13 or older is supposed to write down what they want to be and turn it into their first hour class. Then Storm will then turn those into me by the end of the day. Hopefully I can find most of those costumes at Party America or some place like that. Then, if I can't find some of the costumes- and they're simple enough- I'll sew them."

Jubilee yawned. "Geez. You're going to be busy."

Nanny glanced over the several bags on her art room floor, shut and locked the door, and sighed. "Ya, I am going to be busy."

Jubilee went to bed and Nanny finished locking up and turning off the lights. Nightmare and Tommy had fallen asleep in the front of the TV, watching _Aladdin_ for the third time this weekend. Nanny softly shook Tommy until he woke.She picked up Nightmare and the three went lethargically up the stairs to their rooms.

_" Sunday …_

_Halloween and Jean's wedding are fast approaching, diary. We're going to _

_take the kids trick-or-treating this year. And I'm going to decorate the _

_mansion tomorrow. There's so much to do and so much on my mind. But at_

_least Jean is feeling better._

_sigh I've really missed Teresa lately. I'd call her, if I knew where she was_

_ these days. Last I heard she was in some Middle Eastern country helping to build houses and wells. sigh That's the kind of thing I was hoping to get to_

_ do after college. Though I regret dropping out of college, I don't think I would _

_have found my powers or the mansion if it hadn't been for that. I mean, _

_going over to the Middle East is still something I'd love to do, but I have a _

_new reason to keep me here: Logan. And that's why I miss Teresa so much._

_Jean and Storm are great people, but we don't share the same beliefs and none_

_of us grew up in similar situations. I just don't feel as close to them. If Teresa_

_were here, everything would be … better._

_The Danger Room is up and running again and yesterday Scott and I went through the basics. Later on I went down to train some more- (the stuff_

_Scott and I went over were simple simulations to get me used to the set up_

_and what not). Anyways, Logan ending up training with me and … we finally_

_kissed! He won, and I was tired, and out of no where came this passionate, aggressive, but not hurtful, kiss. Oh, and I haven't been able to stop thinking_

_about last night. And I haven't even talked to him at all today. We were both _

_busy for most of the day, and then Scott and he went to a muscle car show. _

_They're not back yet. They probably stopped at a bar for something to eat and_

_ a few drinks. I wish Teresa were here so that we could stay up all night again, _

_like a couple of gossiping teenagers and talk about last night! _

_Well it's really late. I'm going to bed._

_Nanny"_


	35. Tiger Lily

**Ok, I know I told some of you that I mentioned more names in this chapter …. heh, sorry- tis the next chapter, for sure. However, for reference I'll go ahead and remind you all who's who.**

**Kitty is Shadowcat; Liz is Psylocke (I realize she has a different nick-name in "real" life); Peter is Colossus; Theresa is Siryn; and Bobby is Iceman. **

---

"I thought you said I could help!" Jubilee yelled across the lawn.

"Yes, but don't you have a class right now?"

"I have a study hall and Scott said it was alright if I came and helped."

"Well ok. All of these bags are the yard decorations. Umm, if you don't mind, I'll leave you to decorate the yard. I'd like to get most of the decorations put up inside before my next class."

"Sure!"

Nanny rushed up to the front porch and grabbed a few things out of the bags and headed inside. She put up some spider webs and glow-in-the-dark spiders all over the inside of the front door. She hung a laughing skull's head on the Professor's door that was activated by a motion censor and a groaning headstone on the wall between the kitchen and the living room. Peel-and-stick witch and spider window stickers were placed all over the front windows and a few on the windows in the Professor's office/class room. Nanny hung construction paper bats that her first art class made, up in the dorm room hallways and a few on the fridge. She was halfway done when the bell rang, and Jubilee and Nanny had to return to class.

"Nanny, the decorations look awesome!" Kitty complimented as she took her seat in the art room.

"Have you seen the front yard?" Theresa asked.

"The front yard?" Peter asked. "You're really going all out."

"I decorated the front," Jubilee bragged.

"You did a nice job," Nanny said as she passed out some white construction paper. "Ok, I want everyone to make a ghost and write you're name on the front. I'm going to post them all over just like the bats. And, if there's a bigger Halloween decoration project you all want to work on, it will be extra credit. However, it must be a class project, and I must approve it before you begin. Today is kind of an easy day since I'm so busy."

…

After her second art class, Nanny hung the ghosts up in the living room and even a few in the elevator. At lunch, Nanny took a mug of Storm's miracle tea to her room and soaked her bruise in a nice, warm bath and listened to some country music. After her lunch and bath, Nanny got right back to decorating. The Professor and Jean arrived during this time, and Logan had gone down to help carry luggage or whatever else they might need help with.

Logan, the Professor, and Jean came up from the jet room, into the hallway that Nanny was decorating. She was draping the front doorway in black fabric and hanging skeleton figures on the wall facing the front door. A chair from the kitchen leaned against the wall next to the front door, and a foot above the chair the group saw a pair of dangling bare feet. Even with the chair Nanny couldn't reach the ceiling to pin the cloth in place. Nanny hung onto the top of the door trying to position the cloth just right and hold it there long enough to pin it up. Logan walked carefully up to where she was and Jean and the Professor slipped silently out.

"What's it for?"

Nanny grimaced as she used all of her force to push the pin through the fabric and into the ceiling. She brought herself down to the chair, but her one foot missed the chair and Logan caught her arm. Nanny blushed and stepped down.

"What's it for?" She asked, looking at it. "Well, I suppose it isn't very obvious. And it doesn't exactly have a 'function,' per say. Supposing we get trick-or-treaters this year, the cloth will simply help make the front door look more ominous. And I mentioned all of this Halloween stuff to Storm this morning, and she volunteered to pass out candy- which will be great. Her white hair against the black cloth will have a great effect."

"Hmm." Logan nodded.

"Oh," Nanny giggled. "You've got to come see the other decorations." Nanny took him on a small tour explaining all of the decorations down the hall to the very end where there was a carpet on the floor- an ordinary carpet with a device placed underneath it so that when you stepped on it, it would make a howling noise. Nanny purposely stepped over the middle of the carpet and opened the door, but Logan stepped on the device as he followed her. He wasn't easily scared, and unfortunately for Nanny's sake, he wasn't easily amused. Everything- the holiday and the decorations seemed so superfluous to him. Nanny rambled on as she continued towards the stairs, but Logan heard nothing. What was exciting to him about the whole ordeal was seeing Nanny so alive. When she turned around to face him, she could tell he had only been watching her. She blushed and the words somehow lost their way to her mouth. It seemed too that the air had lost its way to her lungs.

Logan moved forward and clutched Nanny's waist tight, pulling them tight against each other, and kissed her. She winced and pulled away. Logan lifted up her shirt an inch or two so he could see her bruise. It was no longer a faded yellow-brown; it was black and blue all over, again.

Logan leaned one arm against the wall and the other still clutched Nanny's waist. Nanny put her arms around Logan and he pressed against her. Classes were still in session so they were relatively safe from being interrupted.

…

"How was Logan's class," Storm asked Nanny in the afternoon. Storm was yet clueless about the other night.

"I sat out today."

"Your bruises are that bad?" She asked stirring the tea she was making for Nanny.

Nanny lifted up her shirt and tugged her pants down a little. Her bruise extended from her right side, to her mid back, and from a few inches below her hip to a few inches above her belly button.

"Wow. Shouldn't it have begun to heal by now?"

"Oh it looked much better yesterday, but then Logan and I fought in the Danger Room last night."

"Ya, that would do it."

"And the first batch of tea you made today really helped. It wasn't until I was finishing the decorations that it wore off."

"Well here's another glass. The pitcher is in the fridge, so when it wares off again, you can grab some more."

"Thanks so much Storm."

"No problem."

…

Logan lay awake in bed that night thinking about bruises. Yes, bruises. Bruises were hard for him to grasp because he rarely sustained any, and if he did, they were minor and healed within hours. Seeing Nanny so badly bruised peaked his curiosity and his guilt. She had been healing until they fought. It was that last throw that bruised her again. If he hadn't been so rough … but it was in his nature. He was rough. He was rough with his words, actions, and even through his silence. It soothed him to know that Nanny was strong enough to move on and take her pain in strides.

… ** …**

For the next two weeks Storm was on and off the phone with hobby stores looking for the right color and design of ribbon for the tables and lattices, for the wedding and reception. She was on and off the phone with caterers and bands- playing phone tag, trying to figure out if yes, this food or song was available, or no, it was too expensive. Meanwhile, Nanny was running to thrift stores, cloth stores, and costume stores for Halloween. She spent any spare time in between grading art projects, working on her own art and a few story ideas, and taking sufficient time to rest so that her bruises and scars would finally heal.

This whole time, Jean never had another occurrence with the Phoenix and everyone had several fights in the Danger Room. Logan moved his martial arts classes up a notch and everyone showed major improvement, even Josiah.

…

"One day until Halloween, and two weeks until the wedding," Nanny yawned as she examined herself in front of the mirror, early on that Sunday morning. "My highlights are finally gone," she sighed.

She quickly tossed herself into a hot shower and threw on her sweats afterwards. It always snowed on Halloween. That was something she learned from her childhood back in Colorado. And the clouds outside were just waiting to prove her right.

"How come we can count on snow on Halloween every year, and no snow for Christmas?" She grumbled, heading down the stairs.

…

"When'd he leave?" Scott asked Jean at the kitchen table.

"Early this morning, I think."

"And he took my motorcycle for the weekend? Why can't he buy his own damn motorcycle?"

"The Professor tried to get him to take one of the cars because of the expected weather this weekend."

"Oh, great! He better not crash it."

"Calm down honey. I'm sure he _and_ the motorcycle will be fine."

"Where, or why'd he go anyway?"

"Not sure. I just assumed it was to meet that guy from his past."

"What guy?" Nanny chimed in.

"The Professor mentioned that Logan was going to see this guy that said he knew some things about Logan's past. Now he knows about Stryker, but he still doesn't know about anything before that."

"So, he left for the weekend," Nanny asked.

"You mean he didn't say good-bye?"

"No."

"But I thought you two-"

"That's what I thought." Nanny said, pouring milk into her cereal.

"Nanny!" Colossus, Rogue, and Kitty shouted as they busted into the kitchen. "We need someone else on our team."

"For the Danger Room?"

"Ya!"

"Who's on the other team?"

"Bobby, Liz, Jubilee, and Josiah."

Nanny chuckled. _'We've got this made,'_ she thought. "Let me finish eating and getting changed, and I'll be down in a couple of minutes okay?"

They gave each other high fives and rushed back to the game room.

"The kids really like you," Scott commented. He washed out his coffee cup, kissed Jean on the forehead, and put up his morning paper.

"Well, I love them. And I think it might be because I'm younger. Maybe they feel like I can relate more."

"Makes sense," Jean said. She kissed Scott quickly, again, and headed to the Professor's office.

…

"So how do team fights like this work?" Nanny asked as she put on her eye piece and Peter set the atmosphere to the jungle.

"Each person in the team chooses someone on the opposite team to fight one-on-one, but we all fight at the same time. Now if during your fight you see that one of your own teammates needs help, you are allowed to either push them out of the way or hit the member of the other team. A team wins when if they're the first to get two of the other team members to surrender," Kitty explained.

"Let's go!" Bobby shouted, already dashing through the door and into the arena.

…

Logan cautiously opened the thick and heavy wooden door and took a step forward. He surveyed the sluggish group smoking over by the pool table, and the bald bar tender, drying mugs at the counter. He lit his cigar and sat at one of the small tables with his back to the corner.

"He's right over there," Logan heard the bar tender whisper. Then he heard the soft and teasing foot steps of a woman's high heels.

"Good to see ya again Wolverine."

"Good to see you too Tiger Lily." She smiled at the sound of her name escaping Logan's lips. Aurora, or Tiger Lily as everyone knew her as, wore a low cut and tight silver tank top under a black denim jacket and a pair of tight blue jeans. Her long blonde hair was curled and poked neatly out from under her jacket. She rubbed her black stiletto heals up and down Logan's leg, faintly purring.

Tiger Lily was a feral feline mutant with no external appearances to give it away. Only when her sixth sense was sparked did her pupils shrink to tiny vertical slits, and immediately return to the guise of human eyes. Her purring was rare and only saved for special occasions. All together, Tiger Lily had heightened senses, (one including the sixth sense), heightened reflexes, agility, and strength. Above all, Tiger Lily had a very high vertical jump, exceeding ten feet.

"Where's Maveric?" Logan growled.

"Strictly business then, huh?" Lily stopped purring and stopped rubbing Wolverine's leg. "I'll get you some day," she whispered to him.

Wolverine raised his eye brows at Lily to return her to the point. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Look big boy, what do you want to know?"

"I don't know. Someone told me he had vital information for me."

"Well Sugar, let's start with what I know."


	36. One Chilly, Halloween Night

**In this chapter, more of the students are mentioned- by first name. For your reference: Theresa is Siryn; Paige is Husk; Sam, (as in Samuel), is Cannonball; Christine is Angel Dust, Joshua is Elixir; Victor is Anole; Jono is Askari; Donald is Crypto; and Rory is Crimson Crusader.**

**AND- this chapter is BIT lengthier than my other ones.**

…

Bobby had Peter frozen still and Jubilee was getting ready to fire at him when Nanny knocked Liz aside and used her powers to push the frozen Peter out of the way. Peter fell over and the ice chipped away enough for him to free himself.

Josiah swung down on a vine and kicked Nanny from behind, slamming her face first into a tree. She grabbed a fallen branch and swung at Josiah's stomach, completely knocking the air out of him. That's when Liz came up and stole the branch from Nanny in an attempt to use it against her. Nanny rolled, ducked, and dove out of Liz's swinging range until she was able to kick the branch from her hands. Rogue kicked Liz in the back, and Kitty picked up with Nanny where Liz had left off.

Fighting Kitty was hard since she could phase through all of your attacks yet be perfectly solid when she needed to hit you. It was probably the best way to practice your blocks. Kitty grabbed Nanny's arm and tried to force her to the ground, but Nanny freed herself and just as she had Kitty's arm behind her back, she didn't. Kitty phased through and slipped up behind Nanny holding the branch again. Rogue threw off her glove and grabbed Kitty's arm just long enough for her to fall to the ground- surrendering.

Peter sent a log soaring through the air at Jubilee, and Josiah threw himself at her, pushing her out of the way.

"How'd you do that!" Bobby yelled, now facing his own girlfriend- a small battle that was soon joined by Bobby's teammate Liz.

"I – I saw it happening, before it happened." Josiah yelled, a bit surprised. Working with the Professor had enhanced his proficiency and how often he saw events. Training in the arena helped hone these skills as well, every now and then allowing him to see his opponent's next move.

Nanny jumped out of a tree above Jubilee and shoved her to the ground. She pulled Jubilee's arms behind her back, but Jubilee let a few sparks fly out of her hands and Nanny jumped back. Josiah rushed at Nanny from behind and Rogue tripped Bobby. Peter came up behind Jubilee before she and Josiah had the time to gang up on Nanny. His steel flesh protected him from Jubilee's blasts as he yanked her arms behind her back and she fell to her knees.

"Ow, ow, ok, ok!"

The simulation shut off. Peter let go of Jubilee's arms and extended his hand to help her up. His armour exterior returned to flesh and Jubilee accepted Peter's hand. Once Jubilee stood up however, she let a few sparks explode in Peter's now flesh hand, burning it.

"Jubilee!" He yelled as she rushed out of the arena, threw her eye piece onto the control board, and left the Danger Room completely.

"She's a sore loser," Liz stated sourly.

Bobby helped Rogue up and Nanny and Kitty exited together.

"That was a good fight," Kitty said.

"Ya, it was one of the best we've had in a while. But you didn't have to be so rough Bobby," Rogue said.

"It's the _only_ fight we've had in a while Rogue. And it's not my fault that you can't take a few blows," Bobby said cynically.

"They take things too seriously," said Kitty.

Everyone tossed their eye pieces on the control board and left for the showers. Nanny put away the eye pieces and turned off the control panel and lights.

…

"Nah, I don't belong to a 'group' per say, anymore." Lily said. "Some of us split up, others joined different groups. Things fell apart a bit when nothing was going on- with no one to fight. Maveric said he thought it was the calm before the storm. I mean, as far as we can tell even Magneto is sitting still."

Logan grumbled under his breath- he knew all too well that Magneto had too many ants in his pants to sit still. Even if he was quiet, he was still doing something.

"Everyone's taking this time-out to restock their groups though. They've been busy recruiting and gathering info on Magneto's gang and even on your X-Men and some of the students."

"Anyone in particular?"

"Oh sure. Everyone wants Jean on their team, but no one's willing to risk the side effects of her powers. Well, except Magneto. Someone said they heard that he thinks he could keep her powers under control." She rolled her eyes again. "Then, after that little show down at the warehouse, a lot of people have their eyes on Magenta. But, everyone's too lazy to make a move. As for the children, well, I doubt they have their names right, but the kid who can phase through stuff, and the one who can absorb powers. Oh, and the one with a metal body. And before the incident at Alkali Lake, they were looking at Pyro- but of course he went off with Magneto." She paused "Oh, and I don't know of anyone who wouldn't like to get their hands on you. But there's not a person out there who could tame you; tis' a shame really." She smiled seductively at Logan, and then sighed deeply. She looked into her empty mug. "You're too much of a risk for anyone. Cept' Xavier."

"And Maveric? Where's he? What's he up to?"

"You really don't know, do you?" She sat up in her chair and waved for her check.

"Maveric was murdered two nights ago. Kidnapped first- and then his body turned up behind the Tasty Freeze on 21st and Poppy."

Together they left the bar and headed towards a park a couple of blocks away. They first met in the park, seven years ago …

_Clouds cover the mid-night sky. A bone shattering breeze sweeps down the street and through the trash scattered park. Across the street a young girl rushes to lock up the video store, but the lock is being obstinate. Finally the lock clicks into place and the young girl crosses the street to take a short cut through the park, wrapping her shabby coat around her as tightly as she can. _

_Not too far off, hidden in the dark she can hear soft male whispers and snickers. She picks up her pace, and soon foot steps can be heard behind her. One of the men speeds up and reaches out to grab her wrist._

"_Where do you think you're going lady?" He asked, and the other two men encircled her. The girl tries vainly to free herself._

"_Leave her alone." A fourth voice enters from the darkness._

"_Move along bub. We've got you out numbered."_

_They hear a metal –shing- and six knives bust out from the man's knuckles. He doesn't wait for them to run. Before any have the chance to scream, including the girl, the three men lay gutted on the sidewalk. The girl chokes on her fear, the gore in front of her, and her savior who is already on his way, moving on back into the darkness._

"_Wait please! Thank you."_

"_Name's Wolverine."_

"_If you're ever in town again Mr. Wolverine, look me up won't ya?Look for a Miss Tiger Lily."_

That was their first encounter. Years passed and Wolverine had moved further north, permanently staying in Canada. Later Lily found him, and she tried to get him to join her small mob of mutants. He refused her offer, needless to say. Lily had always found a way to keep in touch.

…

They walked through the park and stared down the street at all of the abandoned and boarded up shops. A car alarm went off somewhere near by and fox crossed their path a couple of yards ahead. The clouds loomed over ahead, and shivering breezes blew the autumn leaves across their path.

"So what you up to these days?"

Logan shrugged and took another puff of his cigar.

"Rumors have been going around that you finally found yourself some woman at the mansion."

Logan cocked his eyebrow: seemed like people were keeping a closer eye on the Professor than anyone had imagined. And it made his skin crawl.

"Is it true?"

"What would it matter?" Logan mumbled.

Lily took a breath and exhaled loudly. He was too vague and she hated it. The whole time she had known Logan she had to struggle with believing rumors or his sly comments.

"So, you going to tell me anything that's happening at Xavier's? News for news?"

"Cyclops and Jean are finally tying the knot."

"Oh, I'll have to remember to send a present." She said nonchalantly, but also sarcastically.

"The Professor built himself a new wheel chair."

"Wolverine, are you going to tell me anything or aren't you!"

"Guess we're sittin' still just like you and Maveric." Logan said.

They had finished the loop around the park and they crossed the street. Once they reached the bar, Wolverine didn't waste anytime hoping aboard his motorcycle and slipping on his sun glasses.

"It was nice seeing you Wolverine." Lily called from the curb.

Logan didn't stop, or slow, or turn around. He waved his hand and tossed his cigar down the street drain as he passed by, and sped away.

…

"Nanny, I look ridiculous in this costume!"

"Haha! Well, I don't think you'd make a good hippy, but you do look cute."

"Of course she does," Scott said, beaming, as he walked down the hall.

"Oh Scott!"

He softly kissed her forehead and continued down the hall.

Jean sighed. "The beads aren't over doing it?"

"Jean, you look fine! In fact, it looks really good on you."

"I don't know. I'm not feeling the green and yellow."

"It's not like we have anyone to impress Jean."

"I know," she sighed.

"Are the others ready?" Nanny asked Theresa who came racing down the stairs in her pink fairy costume.

"I think so. Most of them are chattin' in the hallway."

"Come on guys! We want to get started early," Nanny shouted up the stairs. Everyone came bounding down soon enough.

"We're going to have to walk a ways, so everyone get a buddy and stick together. Before we leave, everyone make sure you're dressed warmly enough. AND, there will be NO use of your powers tonight. NONE at all. Is that understood?"

"Yes," they all moaned in unison.

"Ok, then let's go."

Nanny, Jean, and Kurt took the kids in groups. Jean was dressed as a hippy, Nanny as a biker girl, and Kurt as Dracula with black boots, a white puffy, renaissance shirt, and a black and red cape.

It took them a half an hour to get to the nearest neighborhood street. By then it was getting dusk, and the wind picked up. Nanny just waited for the snow.

…

"Ohhhh, what are you supposed to be? A Pharaoh, eh?" A sweet old lady asked Joshua. His gold skin was perfect for a Pharaoh's costume, with painted eyes, and a fake jeweled neck piece, and a white toga.

"And now, dear, what are you?"

"I'm a lizard." Victor replied.

"Oh my! What a great costume! Paint and everything …" she reached out her hand to touch his face when another group of trick-or-treaters came up and he was able to slip away, out into the crowd.

Paige was dressed up in a white cheerleader's outfit with her blonde hair in pig tails and small pom-poms sewed onto her pillow case. Sam was dressed in camouflage as a soldier and Donald was dressed up as Will Smith from _Men in Black._ Christine was dressed up as Mortisha and Jono and Rory were dressed as the duo, Hanz and Franz.

…

"Nanny, why can't we go off on our own? Just a little ahead." Rogue pleaded.

"No. We're staying together."

"Please? We'll meet you at the top of the street. We'll wait there."

Nanny turned to Jean who just shrugged.

"Fine. Meet us at the top of the street."

The group rushed up the street, bounding around the corner into a cul-de-sac.

"But don't be late!" Nanny shouted after them.

…

_-Ding Dong-_

The fake tombstones and skeleton hands in the yard were illuminated by the driveway lights, but the rest of the mansion was ominously dim. The door creaked open slowly and the children yelled, "Trick-or-treat."

Storm swung the door open the rest of the way, a great gust blowing her hair back, her glazed eyes meeting the chilly trick-or-treaters. Her face warmed into a smile as her eyes return to normal and she pushed forward a large bowl of candy.

"That's so cool!"

"Ya, how do you do that!" The kids asked as they rushed forward for their candy.

"A lot of practice," Storm have teased.

The Princesses, cowboys, Darth Vaders, fairies, brides, ghosts, goblins, pumpkins, and lady bugs scooted away ready for the next house.

…

"Well, maybe they went down that cul-de-sac." Jean pointed to their right when the group had arrived at the top of the street.

"I'll stay here and wait for them," Nanny sighed.

"You've got a cell right?"

"Ya. I'll call you when they show up. I'll finish taking them around and we'll head back to the mansion on our own."

"You think you can handle them on your own?"

Nanny laughed. "Ya."

"Ok. We'll see you later then." Kurt and Jean continued on across the street and further into the night of candy collecting.

Nanny stood at the corner for the next ten minutes waiting impatiently for the group. Twenty more minutes passed by without any sign of Bobby, Peter, Liz, Kitty, or Rogue. Thirty minutes. Then thirty-five.

Nanny's cell rang. "Yes?"

"Still haven't found them?"

"Nope. But when I do, we're going to head straight home."

"If they don't show up soon, call the Professor."

"Ya." She sighed. "Suppose I'll have to go find them then."

"Call me soon to let me know what's going on, k?"

"Ya, all right Jean."

Nanny waited for over an hour when she finally called the Professor.

…

"How long do you think we have until they come looking for us?"

"I'm not sure, but we've got to hurry. Once the Professor knows, it won't be long at all before they come to get us."

"All right, so where to?" Peter's older brother asked after the group had jumped into his old, beat up car.

"The Silver Noose Club in town."

"All right. You all got money to get in?"

"Ya, but we're gonna need you to get us in."

"No worries little bro."

Peter's older brother, Mikhail, drove them to the hip and always full club down town. The bouncer didn't check for IDs and the starry eyed kids entered the music blasting and crowded club.

…

"_Be careful Nanny, Storm. And if there's the slightest hint of foul play, you call for back up,"_ the Professor's voice echoed over the speaker phone over Storm's cell.

"Will do Professor. We're at the club now. We'll be in touch soon."

"All right, let's split up." Storm and Nanny agreed. They pushed through the dancing bodies and under-aged drinking kids.

"_I've found Kitty and Liz."_ Storm said into her com. "Girls, where's Rouge?"

"She's been in the bathroom the whole time we've been here."

"Is she drunk!" Storm shouted over the music and chatter.

"No." Liz spat, a bit surprised.

Storm made her way past the bar with the two girls to the bathroom.

"Rogue, honey …"

"Storm?" Rogue came sniffling out of the bathroom stall and fell into Storm's arms. "He … w-went off with, with some other girl!" She sobbed.

"Shhhh honey. Are you talking about Bobby?"

Rogue nodded and the four left the bathroom together.

"_I've got the girls Nanny."_

"_And I've found Bobby boy,"_ Nanny replied with disgust. "Bobby, who is this?" She was referring the girl that he was lip-locked with.

"Ahh, Nanny, this is …"

"Save it. You're in enough trouble as it is. Excuse us miss." The girl rolled her eyes and shoved past Bobby and Nanny. Bobby tried getting lost in the crowd, but she caught his arm and held on tight.

"_Any sight of Peter?"_ Storm asked.

"Nope, I haven't seen him."

"Peter?" Liz said. "He's been flirting with the DJ just about the whole time."

"_See him,"_ Nanny announced into her com. Peter saw her and sighed with resignation, but came without a fuss.

"March!" Nanny said firmly when Storm and everyone was together at the door. All the kids filed out, upset that their fun had to end. Bobby, however, was sorer than the others, and Rogue was simply heart broken.

"What were you all thinking?" Storm asked as she slid into the driver's seat and sped off. "Don't answer that. No answer you could give would make your situation any better."

"I'm not sure what you all had in mind once you were caught, but I believe you'll be impressed with the Professor's punishment. We've all had a hand in it."

The kids groaned in unison.

…

The motorcycle pulled in and soon Logan came stomping through the house. He locked the door behind him and immediately started closing curtains and locking windows and doors. He noticed that Jean and Kurt were home, but that they were all up with their cells on the table, holding cold mugs of coffee and sitting silently, as if they were waiting for bad news.

"Where's Nanny?" Logan asked as he brusquely entered the kitchen.

"Logan, what's wrong?" He seemed more agitated than normal.

The garage door opened and Nanny yanked at the door Logan had just locked. No one had the time to get up and unlock it before Nanny unlocked it with her powers.

"For starters, you're grounded for at least a month. No computer, Tv, games, or phone privileges."

"What!" The kids complained.

"What happened?" Logan asked, hurrying after them, towards the elevator.

"Oh, nothing big," Nanny answered sarcastically, not sour at Logan. "These five just decided to take a joy ride down to a club in town without our knowledge and certainly without our permission."

"Do you kids have any idea how dangerous something like that is? You're lucky Magneto, or … someone else didn't take advantage of this and try to kidnap you. Or do you forget what happened before Rogue? And Bobby- with John?"

"Ok Logan," Liz said, rolling her eyes.

"Go to bed," Storm instructed firmly.

Storm followed them up, and Jean, Kurt, and the Professor, tired from stress and the late hours, went to bed as well.

"Logan …" Nanny said she followed him into the art room and library, and then back to the TV room. "What's wrong?"

"They're watching us."

"Who?"

"Does it matter? We've been careless and let our guard down. Who knows what they've found out? In fact, what if Josiah is their informant?"

"Logan?"

"I went to the big city today," he said, slowing down and looking Nanny in the eye, "to talk to a man about my past. Only, he's dead. A little hard to talk to him now. However, I met one of his associates. Lily-"

"Lily!"

"-told me some things about ourselves that made me realize that they've been watching us, _closely_." He raised his eyebrows high.

"Who?"

"I don't know, but she mentioned a few of the kids, and you, and _us._"

Nanny stepped back a bit shocked. Their relationship had barely gotten off the ground yet somehow the underground world of mutants already knew.

Logan sighed and plopped down on the couch and flipped the Tv on. He wasn't much of a Tv watcher, or a movie watcher, but he certainly needed something to help him unwind. Nanny curled up next to him and held his hand. Logan flipped through the channels until he found something that he could at least stand to watch; something with humorous slapstick-violence and gore. It didn't matter that movie had already started. Logan needed something for his mind to concentrate on other than Lily's words. There would be time enough tomorrow to speak to the Professor about these concerns.

So together Nanny and Logan finished Halloween by watching _Shaun of the Dead._

…

**Sorry it took me so long to update. These past couple months have been sooo busy!**


	37. A New Accent

Storm walked with Nanny as they returned to the main level after x-raying and wrapping Nanny's ankle.

"So it doesn't hurt when you walk like that?" Storm asked.

"Nope. I would compare it to walking on air, if I really knew what that felt like. However, as it is, I'm literally walking on a magnetic field."

Storm grinned and shook her head.

"What took you so long?" Logan asked as Nanny and Storm came up the stairs to the common living room.

"Had to get checked out by the doc," Nanny said.

"We're just glad that we didn't give you two any more time in the ring with her." Storm said smiling and walked back to her class room.

"Guess they're scared I would have whooped ya," Nanny teased.

"So that would be why you had to go to the infirmary and Pete and I are fine."

"Sounds right." Nanny grinned.

"So, how bad is it?" Logan asked, kidding aside.

"Oh, my lip will be fine in a matter of days. My ankle, well, that might take longer."

Logan looked down and noticed that Nanny wasn't walking on the floor. He cocked his eye brow in curiosity. The bell rang and within moments the students poured into the halls with their books and paper and chatter, already on their way to their next class.

"Looks like you've got to get back to class," Nanny said.

"Look, Nanny, I …"

"Logan?" Nanny was surprised by such seriousness in Logan's voice and face.

"I didn't mean to- if I had known ..."

"Logan," Nanny smiled, relieved that it was only about the session, "they didn't name it the Danger Room because they thought it would be safe. We're going to face risks in and outside that room. I'd be disappointed if hadn't given the lesson your all."

The second bell rang, and Logan promptly returned to his gym class, still feeling no better about what happened.

Josiah grinned as he and Nanny crossed paths right in front of the front door. Scott was hurrying down the stairs, late himself for his training session with Kitty.

"Someone get the door?" Josiah said seconds before the door bell rang.

"I'll get it," Scott rolled his eyes. _'I'm already late. This better not take too long.'_

"Can I help you?" Scott asked, cracking the door open enough so that the stranger could only see Scott. The stranger was a young man with auburn hair, and big sunglasses, much like the ones that Scott wears. The young man stood tall on the front door step with his hands gently resting in his trench coat pockets.

"I am looking for a friend, Ororo Munroe."

"Uh, please, come in." Scott said. The young man walked with confidence and grace.

"Nanny, will you go get Ororo please?"

"Sure."

"Ah, Bonjour mon joli chéri." The young man bowed at Nanny.

"I'm impressed, and flattered," Nanny responded after a few moments of shock from hearing French again, "but I believe I'm a bit too old for you." And with that said, she and Josiah headed for Storm's class room.

"Can anyone tell me about the Louisiana Purchase? Yes, Kitty."

"Ahem, ah, Storm." Nanny waved Storm over.

"You understood what he said?" Josiah whispered to Nanny as Storm excused herself from the class room.

"Yes. I studied French for about six years."

"What is it Nanny?" Storm asked as she closed the class room door behind her.

"There's someone here to see you."

…

"Ah, Remy. Good to see you again."

"Oui, as it is good to see you Ororo."

"Well what brings you here?"

"If it's still on the table, I would like to take you up on your offer."

"Oh, yes, the offer is still good. Ah, if you like, I'm sure you could talk to the Professor now."

"Talk to me about what Storm?" The Professor asked as he wheeled himself down the hall. "Ahh, Mr. Le Beau. Good to see you again," the Professor added.

"Remy said he would like to take our offer and join the X-men."

"Good to hear. If you would like, I could take you for a tour now. I'll have Josiah collect your bags."

"Merci, but that won't be necessary. I travel, light."

"Very well then. Shall we?" The Professor rolled on, and Remy Le Beau bowed his head to Storm and Nanny, and followed after the Professor.

"Boy, isn't he a handful." Nanny muttered to Storm.

"You have no idea."

…

"This is our psychology class with Miss Grey. And down the hall here is the library and art room …"

Remy lost the Professor's words when he stared through the door at Jean's class and noticed an especially bored girl with a band of white hair tucked behind her ear. He was a womanizer if there ever was one, but this girl particularly struck him.

"Come Mr. Le Beau. You will have plenty of time to socialize with the ladies later."

…

An hour or two later in the day, Storm interrupted Logan's gym class who had just started a series of difficult relays.

"Excuse me Logan. You have a new student. Remy, this is our martial arts and gym instructor, Professor Logan."

Immediately all of the girls huddled together and began whispering and giggling about this mysteriously handsome new student.

"Welcome Remy. Dress out in these and you can start."

"Sure, but you can call me Gambit."

"Whatever kid." Logan rolled eyes and Remy went inside to change. "All right everyone, here's the deal: you jump through the tires, then give me fifteen push ups as fast as you can. Next hurdle the cones- over, not on top of, and Kitty, if I see you phasing through them at any time, you'll be out here doing this for the rest of the day. Once you're done with the hurdles, take a lap around the school and meet back here. Once you finish you can go change. Everyone ready? On the whistle. Set," and Logan blew his whistle and the first three were off.

Storm, Jean, and Nanny watched Gambit running the relay from art room window.

"So, how did you all meet Remy?" Nanny asked.

"We met him a while back on a mission in Louisiana. He's a thief, just like I used to be. We offered him a place at the school after the mission, but he said he wasn't quite ready to leave home, even though things were heating up for him down in New Orleans. Guess he finally decided to come." Storm answered.

"He's certainly causing a commotion among the ladies," Jean said.

"There'll be some drama over him," Storm sighed. "He's a player."

"Jean, I've been looking all over for you," Scott stepped in the door way.

"Scott."

"Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Jean followed Scott out of the room.

"What is it Scott?"

"The Professor and I need your help repairing the Danger Room."

…

"_Jean, we need to replace the ceiling panel. I need you to use your powers to lift the panel to ceiling so that Scott can rewire the piece and screw it back into place." _The Professor instructed from the control room of the Danger Room.

"And how is Scott going to get high enough to rewire it?"

"_He's going to attach a harness to the ceiling so he can hang just below the panel."_

Now instead of Scott having to adjust his harness we needed to reach higher or move to another area, Jean could gently take him there. Her telepathic abilities would allow her to know when and where she would need to move Scott.

"_Jean."_

"It's alright Professor, I've got him."

'_I can't believe this. Not all that long ago Jean was the weakest X-man. She had problems levitating books and tables. The stunt with the jet was a shock in itself, but it had depleted Jean's energy so much she collapsed under the water. Now she's holding me and a twelve foot long ceiling panel with ease, as if she could do this for weeks.'_ Scott thought to himself as he tried to concentrate on his task. It was unsettling however, to think that someone could contain so much power and not lose control. That was his real worry: could Jean really handle it? Jean had changed since she had returned, but it seemed as though the largest part of her transformation had happened in the last week and was happening more rapidly than all of the previous time combined.

…

"Thank you for talking with me Logan," the Professor said as Logan opened the Professor's office door to leave. "I'll talk to Scott and see about taking some new security measures."

Logan nodded and shut the door behind him softly.

Storm was up in the kitchen helping Peter with some of his Algebra homework while Nanny picked up the scattered toys and magazines in the game room and shoes and papers in the hallways. Josiah and Jean were upstairs helping put the kids to bed, and Scott was watching Tv.

Logan sighed when he entered the kitchen and pulled a bottle of soda out of cabinet.

"Long day Logan?" Storm asked.

Logan only nodded. He took his soda and left to the Tv room and stood at the back sliding glass door. Pinkish-purple clouds covered the whole sky and slowly soft and fluffy snow flakes began to fall to the ground. With a toy dinosaur in her hand, Nanny joined Logan at the door.

"I love snow," Nanny whispered, "Reminds me of home."

"Me too," Logan said softly. "The snow is liberating for me, but at the same time, it reminds me of some not so great times back in Canada."

"Every Rose has its thorns," Nanny sighed. After a few silent moments, Nanny patted Logan's back and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before she headed upstairs for bed too.


End file.
